


Witness

by Nuggsmum



Category: Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Magnus - Freeform, Martinsson, tom hiddleston - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 02:43:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11304075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuggsmum/pseuds/Nuggsmum
Summary: After witnessing a brutal murder, Mina ran for her life. Right into the arms of Detective Martinsson





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Violence/blood/death/panic attack

I pulled on the door, but it didn’t open. I looked over my shoulder at the parking lot behind me. There was Anna’s green car, and a black car that I didn’t recognize. I cupped my hand and peered through the glass door into the lobby of the building. The lights were off and it looked like everyone had gone home. 

“Damn it, Anna.” I sighed. This was not the first time the flighty, young secretary had promised me should would be at the office late so I could pick up my work, and not been there when I arrived. 

I knelt down next to my bag on the ground and starting digging around for the key card that I had in there somewhere. I was silently cursing myself for having such a huge bag, full of crap. Why did I have a box of thank you cards in my bag? What was I thinking I would need a zip-lock bag full of pennies for? And how long had that sandwich been in there?

“Gross.” I said, throwing the sandwich in the trash barrel to the side of the door. I dug around some more, and finally found the key card. I swiped it and the door buzzed and the lock clicked open. I pulled open the door and walked across the lobby towards the stairs. 

As I was climbing the stairs, I thought I heard a voice, so I stopped and listened. I didn’t hear anything else, so I continued up the stairs, my flip flops smacking the stairs with each step.

I pushed the door open to the reception area, where Anna’s desk was. On the corner of her desk was large pile of papers. 

“At least she didn’t lie about getting my work ready for me.” I thought as I went over and grabbed the pile. I stopped as I was shoving the pile into my bag. I definitely heard a voice. 

I edged around Anna’s desk, trying to see the office doors at the back of the room. I could see a faint light coming from under one of the doors. I thought this was strange, the owner, Steve, was away. Or he was supposed to be. 

I could hear the voices again, they weren’t loud, but one of them sounded angry. I moved a little closer, now behind Anna’s desk. I was taking another step forward when my foot caught and I fell over something. 

I landed on the floor, my hands coming out in front of me to break my fall. I felt my wrist twist awkwardly and felt a sharp pain. I tried to be quiet, not knowing what was going on behind the office door. As I pulled my injured wrist back towards my body, I realized I was laying in something wet. 

I rolled over, cradling my wrist to my chest and noticed a dark stain on my hand, and on the front of my light yellow t-shirt. I felt my stomach contract. I slowly turned my head to look behind me. 

“Anna…” I breathed. Laying at an unnatural angle was the young secretary, her glossed over eyes staring silently at me. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was matted to her neck with something dark. There was a small hole in her left temple, a gaping one on her right. We were both lying in a pool of her blood. 

I heard one of the voices get louder. I whipped my head around to the door, praying they wouldn’t come out. I had to get out of here, now. I reached for my bag, and froze when the voice became more clear.

“We had a deal, Steven. You were supposed to deliver the product, and you failed. Twice. I feel like I can get better service elsewhere. I don’t see how we can possibly renegotiate at this point.” Said the voice. “As you can see from what happened to your office girl out there, Sven doesn’t listen to pleading. I think it is time to terminate our contract.” 

I heard a man crying, and I realized with sickening fear, it was Steven. I was on my knees, trying to pick up the papers that were now smeared in Anna’s blood. If they saw the papers all over the floor, they would know someone had been here. I grabbed the last paper and stuffed it into my bag, when a loud gunshot rang out. 

I panicked and dove under Anna’s desk, trying to hug the far corner, where it was darkest. Just as I pulled my bag in with me, the office door opened. I had to bite my lip to keep from sobbing and giving my hiding place away. 

I saw two men come out of Steve’s office. One was tall and menacing. He was wearing a car length, leather coat, and he was tucking a pistol into his inner pocket. He was bald and had a tattoo on his neck that I couldn’t quite make out in the dim room. The other man was older, with gray hair that he wore slicked back. He had glassed and wore an expensive looking suit. He had a pinky ring that picked up the light from Steve’s office and sparkled. 

“Unfortunate about the girl, Sven. She was a beauty. She should have listened and not tried to call the police.” Said the older man, shaking his head, stopping not four feet from my hiding spot, looking down at Anna with an almost sad look on his face. I tried not to breathe. 

“Pity, her family won’t be able to have an open casket.” He said, moving on. Sven stood, staring at Anna’s lifeless body for another moment, looking slightly confused. As if something about her was off. 

“Come along, Sven. I want to get to the club. I have some things to discuss with Richard. We need a new supplier.” Called the older man from the doorway. Sven looked at Anna one last time and moved away. 

I waited for what seemed like hours, but was probably only about 15 minutes, when I crawled out from under the desk. I reached for the phone on Anna’s desk, when I noticed that it had been shot through the receiver. It had blood all over it. I threw it away from me like it was on fire. 

“Oh, God. Oh, God.” I whispered, waving my hand in front of me, as if it would protect me from the phone. 

I backed away from the desk and towards the door, slowly opening it and looking around the lobby below the stairs. They were gone. 

I ran down the stairs, tripping as my blood smeared flip flop slipped on the last step, sending me sprawling on the mat at the bottom of the staircase. I hit my head on the floor, making me see stars. I scrambled up, trying to ignor the pain in my wrist and now my forehead and headed towards the door. 

I was almost to the door when I stopped. Out in the parking lot was my car. And circling my car was Sven, while his employer stood and looked on. As if he could sense me in the building, the older man turned to look at the door. I slowly backed away, trying to keep to the shadows. 

They were talking about something, Sven motioned towards my car, then the building. He started to walk over to the door. I turned and ran down the hallway at the back of the room. There was a fire exit door at the end of the hallway. I pushed it open, bursting into the night. The alarm shrilly rang out, alerting them of my presence. I could hear yelling, but I didn't stop to look. 

I ran straight out into the field that bordered the back of the property. The vegetation was high, and would hide me fairly well, I thought frantically. I let my flip flops fall off, not wanting the sound of them to give me away, and knowing that I could run faster without them. I tore across the field, breaking into a small dirt lane. I crossed that to another field on the other side and altered my path. I started heading diagonal, towards the main road. 

I was running full speed, when I saw headlights just on the other side of a group of trees at the edge of the field. The road. I slowed down and looked out into the road from behind one of the trees. It was the black car that had been in the parking lot. I dove to the ground, curling up in a ball behind the tree. I heard the car drive slowly past. 

Once I couldn’t hear the car anymore, I continued across the road, and across more and more fields, preferring to take the very long way versus the roads where I would be seen. I didn’t know if they had seen me, but they may have figured it out anyways, considering I was covered in blood. 

The horizon was just starting to turn a lighter shade of blue when I reached the edge of town. I was able to make it to the police station, only having to duck into an alleyway once as a car drove by. 

I walked in and there was only a uniformed police officer at the desk, and he was on the phone, not looking my way. Now that I was in the safety of the police station, I could feel myself starting to shake. The adrenaline was wearing off and the panic was starting to take over. The realization of what had just happened was robbing me of my breath. 

I started gasping for air, feeling myself falling to my knees. 

“Ma'am. Ma'am, are you hurt? Ma'am?” I heard a voice ask me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t respond. I looked up into the face of a man with clear blue eyes and curly blonde hair. He looked concerned, his brow furrowed. 

“Help.” I whispered. It was all I could manage. 

“It’s ok. Your safe here. Are you injured?” He asked. He gently touched my shoulder. 

I could feel myself sway, and I fell into his arms, blackness taking me.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: death/blood/violence

I started awake, disorientated. Someone was holding me against their chest. I tried to pull away, but the strong arms around me tightened. 

“It’s ok. You’re safe. I need to know, are you hurt?” Asked the voice. I pushed against the hard chest of the person holding me, letting out a pitiful sob. The arms loosened, but only slightly. 

“Shhh. I’ve got you, no one here is going to hurt you. Can you tell me your name?” Asked the voice. It was the voice of a man. My mind threw a picture of a man who had clear blue eyes, and curly blonde hair at me. I remembered that I was in the police station. He was telling me the truth. I was safe. Was he a police officer? He hadn’t been wearing a uniform. 

I looked up into those eyes. They looked kind. He was young. At first glance, his halo of springy yellow curls made him look even younger than he actually was. He looked concerned. I mean, of course he looked concerned. It was maybe five in the morning, I had walked into the police station, covered in dried blood, and proceeded to pass out on the poor man. 

“Ma'am?” He asked, his eyes roving over my face, taking in what I was sure was a fantastic bump on my forehead and my arm cradled to my chest. “Is this your blood?” He asked quietly.

“No. It’s Anna’s.” I whispered, my voice shaking. I could feel tears flowing down my cheeks. Inside my head I was screaming, “Oh my God! They are dead! They are both dead and I saw who did it! You have to help me. They are going to kill me, too, if they find me.” 

He was watching me closely. He could see the panic in my eyes. He gently touched my cheek, his thumb moving up and down slowly. 

“Does Anna need help? Can you tell me where she is?” He asked, urgently.

I shook my head, sobbing.

“S-s-she’s d-dead.” I managed. “I-I need the p-police.” I couldn’t stop crying. I was trying to calm down, but the magnitude of what had happened was beating down on me. 

“You’re in the police station. I’m Detective Martinsson. You are safe here.” He said in what I’m sure he thought was a calming manner, but sounded like he was trying to talk to someone who was hard of hearing. 

I took a shaky breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm down enough so I could tell Detective Martinsson what had happened. I sniffed and swiped at my tear stained cheeks. 

“I-I know where I am. I came here for help. I saw-” My breath hitched, and I took a moment, closing my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. “I found Anna dead, and I heard my boss-.” I choked back another sob. “My boss, they shot him. I heard it.”

He looked at me for a moment, then he turned to the uniformed police officer that had been behind the desk and was now standing behind him.

“Call Kurt. And Anna.” He said to the officer. he turned back to me, his hand settling on my shoulder. “Are you hurt at all? Do you need to go to the hospital?” 

“I can’t leave the police station!” I cried, terrified that if I went anywhere else, they would find me. I pulled my arm closer to my body. I was sure it was broken, but not wanting him to know. He studied me again.

“You’re holding your wrist. Did you hurt it?” He asked. I nodded. “And you’re forehead has a bump and a cut on it. I think you should see a doctor.”

“No, please. Don’t make me leave.” I started crying again. “T-they will find me.” I whispered.

“No one will harm you, I promise. Tell me your name?” He asked again, softly. I realized that we were still on the floor of the police station lobby. I was on my knees between his long legs and he still had his arms loosely around my waist. I tried to move back, away from him. 

“What’s going on here? Magnus, what’s happened?” An older man had come in. He was slightly disheveled, looking like he had slept in his clothes. 

“Kurt, that was quick. She just came in and passed out on me. She said there’s been two murders, but that’s all the information I’ve been able to get.” Detective Martinsson said, gone was the soft tone and caring eyes. He was all business now. “She’s kind of a mess.”

Even though I was more than “kind of a mess” and I knew it, I turned to look at him with an expression of outrage. I had thought he was kind. He was speaking about me like I wasn’t even there. What a prick.

“I was already in the parking lot when Lewinn called me.” He said to Detective Martinsson. “Miss, can you stand? I’m Kurt Wallander, I’m a detective like Magnus.” He said in a calming voice, reaching out his hand to help me up. I nodded, reaching for his hand with my good one. 

“Careful, Kurt. I think she’s hurt, but she doesn’t want to go to the hospital.” Detective Martinsson said, holding his hands out, as if I might fall and he intended to catch me. 

I was getting irritated now, which was a good thing. I wasn’t crying anymore. 

“I can stand.” I snapped at him. “Thank you, sir.” I said to Detective Wallander.

“Here, come with me. We’ll get you a cup of tea.” He said in a fatherly way, leading me toward a glass wall at the back of the lobby. I walked with him, limping slightly. My feet were raw from running through the fields, I didn’t even want to know what the bottoms looked like. 

“Miss…” Said Detective Wallander, hesitating, because he didn’t know my name.

“Mina.” I said quietly. He led me over to a large table and guided me to sit in a chair. 

“Mina?” He asked, expecting my full name. I sat at the edge of my seat, hugging my arm to my chest still. After the initial relief of getting to the police station, I was now starting to get anxious. They were going to make me leave, they were going to make me go to the hospital. I knew it. 

“Petersson. Mina Petersson.” I said. Detective Martinsson had followed us, and was standing at the end of the table, his long arms crossed over his chest. He was watching me with a closed expression on his face. The kind eyes were now shuttered. 

“Magnus, can you get her a cup of tea?” Detective Wallander said without even looking at him. I noticed he rolled his eyes as he turned and stalked away. “Mina, before we get started, please tell me if you are hurt.” He said. I sighed. Here we go, I thought. 

“I fell on my wrist, I think it may be broken. But please don’t make me leave! I’m safe here, aren’t I?” I asked him frantically. He put a calming hand on my knee, leaning in to speak to me.

“You are safe here, but we would escort you to the hospital. We wouldn’t leave you alone. Any other injuries?” He asked me.

“I hit my head, and my feet hurt. I ran through the fields barefoot.” I said, looking down at my filthy, bloody feet. He looked down, too. Detective Martinsson placed a cup of tea, none too gently, on the table next to me. I looked up at him.

“Thank you.” I said quietly. I could tell he was irritated he had been told to get me the tea. He looked down at me and nodded once. 

“I still think she should be seen by a doctor. Her wrist is clearly broken, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a concussion, with that bump.” Detective Martinsson said gruffly, crossing his arms again and widening his stance. 

“I agree, Magnus. But, if you can wait, I would like for you to tell me what happened, first. Would you be able to do that, Mina? Can you tell me where they are?” Detective Wallander asked me. 

I nodded, taking a deep breath.

“I’m not sure of the exact address, but its that big brick building on East Road. Its the only brick one. Home Interiors is the name of the business. They are both in the upstairs offices.” My voice cracked and I felt the tears coming again. A tissue box was pushed under my nose. I looked up to see Detective Martinsson looking down at me, again. 

“Magnus, get some units and go.” Detective Wallander said, not looking at him. I looked at Detective Martinsson, and he had opened his mouth to protest. At that moment, a woman came rushing into the room. Her hair was wet, like she had been interrupted getting ready. 

“What’s happened? Lewinn said that there was a double homicide?” She asked, coming over to stand next to Detective Martinsson. 

“Mina, this is Detective Hoglund. What are you waiting for Magnus? Please, if you can, continue Mina.” Detective Wallander said to me. Detective Hoglund looked back and forth between the two and spoke up. 

“I can go, my car is out front, anyways. Where am I going?” She asked.

“East Road. The brick building, business called Home Interiors. She claims there are the bodies of two of her coworkers in the upstairs office.“ Detective Martinsson said quietly. She turned and left the room, pulling her mobile out of her pocket as she went. 

“I claim? Do you think I’m lying? Why would I lie about something like this?” I hissed at him, rising from my chair. 

Detective Wallander put a hand on my good arm and gently pushed me back into my chair. 

“Magnus didn’t mean that you were lying. It's just a phrase that we use. Please, tell me what happened.” He said gently. 

I gave Detective Martinsson a withering glance, and then looked back to Detective Wallander. 

“I work from home. I do the books for Steve. I usually go in at night to get the invoices and stuff that I need to do my job, because….well, because I don’t really like to be around people.” I said, my gaze dropping to my lap. I felt embarrassed telling them that I was basically a recluse. I chanced a look at Detective Martinsson, and he quirked an eyebrow at me. I looked away. 

“I had spoke to Anna, the secretary, around six pm, and she told me that she was going to be there late so I could come and get my work. I like Anna. I liked Anna.” I corrected myself, feeling the tears pricking my eyes again. "She would usually convince me to stay and have a coffee with her and talk. She didn’t think that my lifestyle is healthy. But when I got there, the light were off and the door was locked. Her car was there, though. And another car. A big black one, that I hadn’t seen there before.“

"Did you get a license plate number?” Interrupted Detective Martinsson. “Do you know what kind of car it was?” 

“No, I wasn’t really paying attention to it. I don’t really know cars. It reminded me of the kind that will pick you up to take you to the airport. If that helps?” I said to him. he nodded. 

“I have a key card that unlocks the door, so I used that. I went up to the office, its on the second floor. I was putting my paperwork in my bag, when I heard voices coming from Steven’s office. I thought it was odd, because he is supposed to be on a business trip. The door was closed and I was trying to get closer to hear, and I tripped over Anna. She was on the floor.” I brought a shaky hand to my mouth as a sob escaped. 

“There was blood. So much blood. They shot her in the - in the h-h-head, and she was just laying there, s-s-staring at m-m-me. Oh God!” I cried into my hand. They let me weep for a few minutes, understanding that I needed to do this in order to continue. I took a few deep breaths and went on. 

“I could hear the voices more clearly after I fell, and there was one that said something about a deal, and that Steven messed up twice, and that he was going to terminate the contact. Then they shot him. I h-h-hid under Anna’s d-d-desk.” My voice was shaking, the tears coming again. 

“Mina, did you see them? Can you describe them?” Detective Wallander asked me. I nodded through the tears. I took a deep breath and gave him the description of the two men I had seen. 

“The older man called the big one Sven. He mentioned a club and a man named Richard that he needed to talk to about getting a new supplier. After they left, I tried to call the police on Anna’s phone, but it was covered in blood. I think they shot her while she was on the phone. I tried to leave after that, but they were standing by my car, so I ran out the fire exit. The alarm went off and I heard them yelling, but I didn’t look back. I just ran.” I finished my story, looking up at the two detectives. 

“You’ve been very brave, Mina. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through tonight. I’m going to need your address and contact information.” He said, pushing a pad of paper towards me. "I’m sure we will need to speak to you again about this. Magnus will bring you to the hospital to get checked out. Magnus, stay with her and bring her home after.“ He said, getting up and going over to a desk to make a phone call. 

I looked up at the younger detective, and he was looking away from me. I could see a muscle twitch at his jaw. I wondered if the older man was his boss, or if he just treated him that way. 

"Come on, Miss Petersson.” He said gruffly. I sighed as I stood up an followed him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: violence/language/guns/bubbly blondes

I limped after Detective Martinsson back through the door. His long legs carried him much faster than my hobbling steps were getting me. He stopped at the doors to look back and I was still making my way across the lobby. 

Now that the initial shock was wearing off, I was really starting to feel my injuries a. My feet were killing me, I was sure I had something embedded in my heels. I looked up at him, and he had a look of pity on his face. He came back across the lobby to me. 

“I can carry you to the car, if you would like?” He reached for me. I glanced at his face. He looked sincere and almost apologetic. I straightened my back, my stubborn streak setting in. Screw him. This “mess” was going to make it on her own two feet, I thought. 

“I’m fine.” I ground out.

He stood and watched me hobble about another 10 steps. I heard him tsk and he came and swept me into his arms.

“Hey!” I protested and struggled. He tightened his grip. "Put me down, right now.“ 

“It’s stupid for you to hurt yourself more because you have too much pride.” He said quietly, looking down at me. “Don’t you think you’ve been through enough today?” 

I huffed and looked away from him. He pushed the door open with his shoulder and walked down the sidewalk towards the parking garage. I looked around, suddenly feeling the fear creep back into my brain. What if they found me? I felt a shiver run down my spine. 

“Don’t worry. I- We won’t let anything happen to you.” He said softly. I looked up at him. There were the kind, concerned eyes again. 

He walked over to an unmarked police car, setting me down next to the passenger side. He unlocked the door and proceeded to grab about 5 or 6 empty coffee cups and other assorted junk food wrappers from the seat and floor. 

“Sorry.” He said, sheepishly. “I did a stake out a few days ago and haven’t gotten around to cleaning.”

He assisted me in the car. He reached over me and buckled the seat belt for me.

“Ah… Thank you, Detective.” I said. Why was he being so nice, when he was just a total jerk? Maybe his mood change hadn’t been directed at me, I thought. It made sense that he resented being told what to do, especially if Detective Wallander was not his boss. 

He shut my door and walked around to the drivers side. He had just opened the door when the officer from the front desk came running into the parking garage calling his name. He walked over to him and they spoke briefly. He turned to look at me as they were talking. He nodded and headed back over to the car, getting in. 

He didn’t say anything at first, waiting until we were on the road. 

“Mina, do you mind if I ask you some more questions? I can wait until later if you’re not feeling up to it.” He ventured. 

“I don’t mind, but I think I already told you everything. Why?” I asked, curious what the police officer had said to him. 

“Did you touch your boss’s body at all?” He asked, glancing at me, perhaps to gauge my reaction. 

“I didn’t even go in the office. I tried to call the police, but the phone was destroyed. After I realized they had shot her while she was on the phone, I dropped it and ran out.” I gasped. “I should have checked, to see if I could have helped him! What if they didn’t kill him? Oh my God. I’m a horrible, selfish person.” I cried. 

“No, don’t do that to yourself. You were panicked. Anyone would have done the same. Besides, from what it looks like, he was killed instantly.” He said quietly.

“Oh. I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” I said, not believing that I was having this conversation, talking about this so casually. I was starting to feel nauseous.

“Did you move Anna at all?” He asked.

“I tripped on her leg, I think. It was dark and I didn’t see her until I was on the floor. I dropped my papers all over the floor, and I was picking them up so they wouldn’t know I was there. There was so much blood. It got all over my papers. When I heard them shoot Steven, I jumped over her and under her desk. I suppose I could have moved her a little either time.” I said. 

“Where did you fall and bump your head?” He asked. 

“I was running down the stairs, and there was blood on my flip flops. I slipped, near the bottom, and fell forward. Why are you asking me these questions?” I asked him, watching his face. 

“You disturbed a crime scene. I know it wasn’t on purpose.” He cut me off, because I had opened my mouth to protest. “But we need to know what you touched.” 

I nodded, because it made sense. We drove the rest of the way to the hospital in silence. 

He pulled up to the emergency room door, and got out of the car, coming around to my door. He assisted me out of the car, and went to pick me up again. 

“Please. Don’t. I can walk in on my own.” I said, putting my hand out to stop him. 

His mouth turned into a thin line that gave away his disapproval. 

“Fine. I’ll just park the car. You can go check in.” He said, getting back in the car.

I hobbled into the waiting room. For so early in the morning, there were quite a few people. I stood and waited in line for my turn. The nurse sitting at the desk waved me over, and I went and sat in the chair in front of her. I briefly explained about my injuries. As she was paging an orderly to come take me to x-ray for my wrist, Detective Martinsson joined me. 

He silently followed me to the x-ray department, and stood outside the door while they took the films. I was brought to a curtained off bed after that. He sat in the chair by the bed. 

“So what happens now?” I asked him quietly. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“These men, they know that I was there. They saw my car, and probably saw me. What if they are looking for me? What if you don’t catch them? What if they find me? You can’t stay with me forever.” I said, my voice starting to get higher. 

He was watching me, as if trying to decide how to answer when a little blonde nurse came bustling in the room. 

“Alright, Miss Mina! You have a broken wrist, my dear! But its a clean break! So, we’re going to cast it up for you, and then we can take care of those poor feet!” She said cheerily. “Oh my God! Magnus!” She practically shrieked. 

He stood up from the chair. 

“What are you doing here? Oh, are you a prisoner?” She asked me, smiling. 

“Ah, not quite.” I didn’t really know how to answer that. How could someone be so… bubbly?

“Hello Bonnie. It’s been a long time.” He said, a smile coming to his lips. He has a nice smile, I thought. 

The nurse rushed over to him and hugged him. Or practically threw herself at him. Either way. I stared at them in disbelief. Where they old friends? Former lovers? Why did I care? I didn’t care. But I did. And she was still hanging on him. He at least had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. 

“Uh, sorry to interrupt this reunion, but I’ve witnessed some shit that no one wants to see, broke my wrist, and have a couple boulders stuck in my foot. I’d like to go home and sleep for 5 days, so if we could move this along?” I said, not in the mood anymore. 

Detective Martinsson cleared his throat and peeled her off of him. 

“I’m so sorry, Miss Mina! Lets get you sorted out, you poor thing! I’m going to get you something for the pain.” She said, oozing cheerfulness.

“I don’t take pain meds. Just acetaminophen would be fine.” I ground out. 

“Oh, but Miss Mina! You have a broken bone! Why be in pain if you don’t have to be!” She chipped as she bounced back out of the curtain. I looked him, and he was blushing. I cleared my throat. 

“I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m just tired.” I said, feeling awkward. 

“No, she’s always been a bit much. Nice girl. Very… Happy.” He said, cracking a small smile. 

“Ex-girlfriend?” I asked, immediately cringing. “That’s none of my business. I’m sorry.” 

“No.” He said firmly. “Friend of my sister’s. Good God. No. No.” He said, his eyes widening at the thought. 

I giggled. I put my hand to my mouth, feeling horrible for laughing. He smiled at me again. I liked when he smiled. 

Bonnie came back in and I took her pain meds, just to shut her up. She left and came back with the doctor this time. They proceeded to put my arm in a cast. After they were done, the doctor set to work on getting the debris out of my feet. I was right, there were rocks embedded in my heels. 

Detective Martinsson was standing to the side of my bed, watching. He looked a little horrified as the doctor contined to attack my feet.

“I’ll be right back.” He said, leaving the curtained room. 

Once the doctor finished and bandaged my feet, he took a quick look at my head and declared me fit enough to be discharged. He told me to sit tight and the nurse would come back to get my paperwork in order. 

I leaned back onto the bed, the pain relievers Bonnie had practically forced me to take finally taking effect. I couldn’t even comprehend what had happened to me in the last 10 hours. 

I heard the curtain pull back and then close. I opened my eyes and looked at who had come into my area. I was looking into the barrel of a gun. 

Sven stood there, dressed in blue hospital scrubs and a while coat. He had a gun trained on me, and a smile on his face. 

“Hello, Mina. Did you think that we wouldn’t find you?” He asked me, his voice surprisingly friendly considering the scary smile stretched across his face. 

“Please don’t kill me.” I whispered. I didn’t know what else to say to him. 

“No. I’m not going to kill you. Yet, anyways. My employer would like to have a chat with you. You’re going to be a good girl and come with me.” He said, motioning with his gun that he wanted me to get off the bed and proceed him out the door. 

I swung my legs over the side and stood, watching him warily. 

“How did you know who I was?” I asked him, trying to stall for time.

“Your key card. It has your name attached to it. I just looked at the security logs. I called the hospital, said I was your general practitioner, asked if you were here. Easy. Now, lets go before your detective returns. I would hate to have to kill a man of the law. Move along.” He said, pushing the gun into my back. 

I shuffled in front of him, the bandages not really cushioning my raw feet. He jammed the gun harder into my back, so I moved faster. I was looking around, trying to find Detective Martinsson. I spotted him, talking to Bonnie. Even in my predicament, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. A cute little blonde would actually be the death of me. Totally my luck. 

We were walking past the nurses station, and an idea came to me. I waited until we were just at the end of the counter, and I dropped to the ground, pretending to have passed out. 

“We got a fainter! Someone get a doctor.” I heard one of the nurses yell, and felt someone grab my wrist, feeling for a pulse. I opened my eyes and looked around the people standing over me. Sven was gone. 

“Detective Martinsson!” I yelled. “I need Detective Martinsson!” His curly blonde head popped into my view. 

“Mina, what are you doing out here?” He asked looking confused. 

“I won’t let anything happen to you, my ass. He was here! Sven was here, and he had a gun to my back! Where the fuck were you? You know what? If the Ystad Police Department can’t help protect me, if it’s just too much trouble to ask you to keep me from ending up dead, next time he shows up, I’ll just ask him to shoot me. That way I won’t interrupt your personal life. I should have just gone with him. I’m dying to know why his boss wants to have a chat with me before he kills me.” I yelled at him, quickly breaking down into hysterical tears. 

I felt him putting his arms around me and picking me up off the floor. I wanted to protest, to push him away, to punch him, but I was too distraught. After everything that I had been through, this seemed the worst, because he had been standing right there. He hadn’t been keeping me safe like he had promised he would. Would I ever be safe again? I wondered.

He brought me back to my curtained area and sat on the bed, me still in his arms. He was rubbing my back, murmuring soothing noises. 

“It’s Martinsson. One of the suspects from the double homicide was at the hospital. He tried to abduct the witness.” I looked up at him. I hadn’t even noticed he had taken up the bedside phone and made a call. He looked down at me and rubbed my back some more. "No, she’s safe. I can’t leave her to go after him, besides, he’s probably long gone by now. Yes, have a unit come and get the security footage. I’m going to be taking her home, and I’ll be there. Tell Kurt to call me. Thanks.“ He hung up the phone. 

He looked down at me for a moment. I pushed at his chest, trying to get off his lap. He tightened his grip on me. 

"Mina…. I’m so sorry-” He started, but I cut him off.

“Don’t. Just. Don’t. Please.” I said quietly. “I don’t want your apologies. My life is not important. I get it. It never has been. Why would it be any different now? I don’t expect you to care, but I would appreciate it if you could at least do your job, until the next shift comes in. I didn’t survive last night to die today. Please, I want to go home now. I would really like for you to let me down.” 

He closed his eyes and sighed. He gently placed me on my feet and stood. He went over to the curtain and spoke to a nurse that was passing. Five minutes later, Bonnie came in, no longer full of rainbows and butterflies, and filled out my discharge paperwork. She gave me a pair of slippers to put on for the walk to the car. 

“Shall we?” I asked him, not waiting for an answer. I turned, making my way out of the Emergency Room, Detective Martinsson following behind me.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Blood/language

I sat in the passenger seat of Detective Martinsson’s car, wishing for the first time in a long time, that I had someone to call. I had no one, and usually, I was fine with that. I took care of myself. The one person I may have called a friend, if I had any friends, would have been Anna. And she was dead. I wished there was someone in my life who could have come to get me from the hospital. But no. Poor Detective Martinsson was stuck being my chauffer. 

Part of me felt guilty for yelling at the poor man. It wasn’t really his fault. He had been only 20 feet away when Sven had tried to take me. The other part of me was still beyond pissed that he had decided that he hadn’t actually taken it serious that he needed to keep an eye on me and that it had been a good time to flirt with the perky nurse. Not that I cared if he flirted with her, just not when my life was on the line. Or so I told myself. Either way, I didn’t want to have to spend any more time with him, and I’m sure he felt the same about me. 

We were driving down a country road, bordered by fields. I loved that my house was in the middle of nowhere. It was quiet all the time and I was left alone. My nearest neighbor was two miles to the east. My house sat at the edge of one of his wheat fields. 

“You really live out here by yourself?” Detective Martinsson asked me, as he turned down the dirt road that led to my house. 

“Yes. My neighbor comes to check on my from time to time. To make sure the wolves haven’t gotten me.” I said, looking out the window. I heard him chuckle softly. 

I knew that my little fieldstone cottage would be coming into view any second so I turned to look out the front window. It never got old, seeing it. I adored my house. It was a small, two story cottage made of the grey rocks that had been found in the surrounding fields hundreds of years ago. If the sun was at the right angle, the stones would sparkle. I sighed. 

“Are you alright?” He asked, looking at me as he pulled up next to a marked police car sitting in my driveway. 

“Just glad to be home.” I said, opening the door and getting out. The officer that was standing next to his cruiser nodded at me and walked over to Detective Martinsson. 

“I checked the surrounding area, didn’t see anything. I also checked the house, the doors and windows are all still locked, no signs of any disturbance, sir.” 

“Thank you, I’m going to have you stay on surveillance. One of the suspects tried to abduct Ms. Petersson at the hospital. I don’t doubt that they will try to do so again. Hopefully having a unit in the drive will deter them from even trying.” Detective Martinsson was saying to him. I rolled my eyes and headed to the front door. 

“Wait! Mina, wait!” He called, running up along side me. “I want to check the house before you go in.” He said. I huffed and stopped to look at him. 

“Why? He just said that nothing looks disturbed. No one’s been here. All I want to do is get out of these clothes, take an hour long shower and sleep forever. Is that too much to ask?” I asked him. He had the audacity to crack a small smile. 

“Please, just let me do a quick check, and I promise you can do all of those things… well, not sleep forever, but a decent amount.” He smiled at me, holding his hand out for the key. I narrowed my eyes at him. 

I opened my bag, forgetting about the blood soaked papers that I had stuffed in there last night. I gagged and dropped the bag on the ground. I turned away from him, feeling my stomach roiling, and gagged again. I leaned over and put my good hand on my knee, trying to breath. I felt his hand at my back, rubbing in a circular motion. 

“It’s alright, Mina. Deep breaths.’ He soothed. I took a deep breath, feeling myself shudder. 

“Sorry, I forgot those were in there. I just.. wasn’t expecting it. Could you please get my keys?” I asked him, still looking away. I heard him rummaging in my bag. 

“Wow, you are prepared for everything.” He said, amazed at the wonders my bag held. "Why do you have a television remote in here? Ah, here’s the keys.“

He stood up, holding up the keys like a prize. He carried my bag with him and headed over to the door. 

“Just wait out here with Officer Bergman for a moment. I’ll be right back.” He said as he unlocked the door. He pulled his gun from its holster and cautiously went inside. 

I looked over at the officer and he smiled kindly at me, walking towards me. He was kind of cute. 

“If you don’t mind me saying, Ma'am, you’re doing really well. Holding up really well. I was briefed on what happened. I bet you can’t wait to take a well desereved rest.” He said. I smiled at him in agreement. He nodded. 

Detective Martinsson appeared in the door and waved for me that it was ok to go in. 

“Go and get your rest Ma'am. I’ll be out here keeping watch for you. Nothing to worry about now.” Officer Bergman smiled at me. 

“Thank you.” I said, feeling tears prick my eyes, I reached out and briefly touched his hand to show how thankful I was for his thoughtful words. I waked over to the door, and Detective Martinsson looked at my face and then at the officer headed back to his car. He didn’t say anything, but raised an eyebrow, and held the door open for me. I passed him and went in the door to my kitchen. I turned to watch him as he came in and locked the door behind him. 

“Aren’t you going to leave now? You’ve delivered me, alive. I’ve got the lovely Officer Bergman to watch me now.” I said, awkwardly trying to cross my arms, then realizing you cant really do that with a cast. I settled for putting my good hand on my hip. 

“Oh, he’s just for outside surveillance. I’m not going anywhere. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me for the time being.” He said, plopping his long frame down in one of my kitchen chairs. I stared at him for a moment, then shrugged, walking away toward the narrow set of stairs that led upstairs. 

“Suit yourself.” I said, without looking back at him. If he wanted to stay to make himself feel better about fucking up earlier, I wasn’t going to to tell him not to. The more men with guns I had around me that were on my side the better, as far as I was concerned. 

I went up the stairs, to my bedroom, which along with the bathroom, took up the whole second floor of the cottage. The slanted ceilings and small fieldstone fireplace made it really cozy. It was my favorite space in the whole house. As I looked around at the familiar surroundings, I was finally starting to feel, if not calm, at least not as anxious. 

I peeled off my jeans, which were stuck to my legs where the blood had dried. I was just going to pull my t-shirt over my head, when I heard a creak on the stairs. I turned around quickly to find Detective Martinsson standing at the top of the stairs, his hand over his eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I- ah - your cast. You can’t get it wet. I was talking to Bonnie about what you should do about it when you shower, when, well. You know. Sven. So, she had said to tape a bag around it. I hope you don’t mind, I looked around your kitchen and found a trash bag and some tape.” He stammered, hand still firmly over his eyes. He was holding out the trash bag and roll of tape in his other hand.

I watched him for a minute, letting his discomfort last longer. So that’s what he had been doing, I thought. Now I felt bad for having misjudged him. A little bad, anyways. 

“Oh. Thank you. I hadn’t even thought about the cast.” I said. I went over to him, taking the bag and roll of tape. I looked at my arm, thinking there was no way I could do this on my own. “Would you, uh, mind helping me?” I asked him quietly.

“O-of course.” He said, removing his hand from his face, which was beet red. He turned to me, and I saw his eyes flick down, taking in my naked legs. He quickly looked back up to my face. I smirked at him, holding out my casted arm. He carefully pulled the bag over it and secured it with the tape, biting the edge of the tape off the roll. His long fingers smoothed the end flat on my arm. His hand lingered at the edge of the tape for a moment. 

“That should work. Ok. I guess I’ll just go down, then.” He stood there, looking into my eyes, and his eyes widened. “Downstairs! I’ll just go down the stairs now.” He squeaked, and he practically ran down the stairs. I held back a laugh and shook my head. The man really was wound a little tight. 

I continued to rid myself of the blood soaked clothes, throwing it all in a pile by the stairs, to throw away later. I went into my little bathroom that was sitiuated in the eves. I turned on the shower and let the water get hot. 

I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed I did have quite the lump on my forehead. I sighed and bent over to take the badages off of my feet. I’d have to go to the market and get more tomorrow. I didn’t think I had that much in my little first aid kit. 

I stepped into the shower, pulling the curtain closed behind me. I stood under the spray, letting the hot water soothe my sore muscles. I began working my fingers though my hair that had been matted with the blood. When I could finally run my fingers through it, I shampooed it several times before finally feeling it was clean enough. I washed and washed away the blood and the events of the night before. It took even longer with the hindrance of my cast. 

When I finally felt like I had washed away all traces of blood, I turned off the shower. I got out and wrapped a towel around myself, cursing the stupid cast. After I dried all around the bag and my arm, I awkwardly peeled the tape off and put the bag aside to use again. 

I padded out into the bedroom, grabbing a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top out of my dresser. I pulled them on and sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed the towel on my hair to dry it. I usually would braid my hair if I was going to sleep with it wet, but with the cast, that would be impossible, so I just let it hang down my back. 

I crawled onto my bed, and pulled the covers up. I closed my eyes and sighed. All I wanted to do was sleep. This was what I had been wishing for since I got into the car with Detective Martinsson at the police station this morning. Detective Martinsson….

I tossed and turned for what felt like hours. I never had this problem. I was used to being alone. I liked it that way. I didn’t crave human company like most people did. I had a cat who sometimes liked to be around me, sometimes not. It suited us both just fine. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was exhausted, and there was only one way I was going to get some sleep. 

I threw back the covers, and got out of the bed. I grabbed my pillow and the comforter and shuffled down the stairs. Detective Martinsson was not in the kitchen. Did he leave? I thought, my heart dropping a little. 

I poked my head in the living room, and there he was, sitting on my couch, with Charlie, my cat, curled up in his lap. Traitor. He looked up at me and his eyebrs knit together. 

“Mina, are you alright?” he asked, concerned, going to stand up. 

“No, stay.” I said, putting my hand out to him. “I’m fine, Detective. I just need company, I think, or I won’t be able to sleep. I don’t know.” I let out a small, humorless chuckle at that and plopped my pillow down on the couch next to him and curled up under my blanket. 

I could feel myself relaxing and drifting to sleep. I could hear Charlie’s loud purr. When I was at that point, just on the cusp of sleep, Detective Martinsson spoke to me. 

“You can call me Magnus, if you like.” He said, softly. 

Did I dream that? I’m not sure, but I like that name. Magnus. I thought, finally giving in fully to sleep.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Language/nightmares/mention of abuse/guns

I woke to someone gently shaking my shoulder. I swatted at the hand with my casted arm, mumbling and burrowing my face into my pillow. The evil hand shook me again. I opened one eye and looked up into the face of Detective Martinsson. I stared at him for a moment, trying to register why he was here.

“Detective? Do you have your gun?” I rasped at him, my voice extremely hoarse from not being used. He pulled his head back a little and looked confused. 

“Of course, why?” He asked, concerned. 

“Because if you shake me again, you’re going to need it to protect yourself.” I growled, closing my eyes again. I had never been a morning person. I thought I heard him chuckle lowly. I burrowed even further into my blanket and pillow. 

“Mina, you can go back to sleep in a minute. I just want you to drink something. You’ve been asleep for more than 24 hours. You’re going to get sick if you don’t have anything in your system.” He said, shaking me again. 

I opened my eye again and looked at the window. It was dark out. Had I really slept for over a day? I wondered. I groaned and pushed myself up on my elbow. He gave me a small smile and handed me a large glass of orange juice. I looked at it questioningly. I didn’t have any orange juice in the house. 

“I had some groceries brought over. You didn’t have much in the house. Your milk expired a week ago.” He said, sitting down next to me on the couch. He turned to face me and watch me drink the juice. 

“I don’t get to the market much, its a four day walk from all the way out here.” I said sarcastically. “I don’t drink milk, I bought it for a recipe, so the rest just sat there. I was going to go to the market yesterday. Or the day before. What day is it?” I asked, taking a sip of the juice. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I had been. It was refreshing and cold. It felt good sliding down my parched throat. My stomach growled. Apparently, I was pretty hungry, too. 

“It’s early Thursday morning. You’ve been asleep since Tuesday afternoon. I thought you were going to make good on your promise to sleep forever.” He said, pushing the glass in my hand towards my mouth again. He watched me drink it with a satisfied smirk on his face. 

“You should really eat something. I can make a grilled cheese sandwich? Or something else?” He asked. I looked over at him. His hair looked like he had just woken up. I didn’t know what to make of the feeling that shot through the pit of my stomach at the thought of him in bed. I finished the orange juice and he took the empty glass back. 

“Detective Martinsson, have you been here the whole time?” I asked him. I thought I saw his eyes narrow at my use of Detective Martinsson. I suddenly remembered him softly saying to me to call him Magnus as I fell asleep. Had I dreamt that?

He was wearing the same clothes. Why would he stay? Surely he didn’t feel that guilty about what happened at the hospital. He could have just had another uniformed police officer come and watch the house. 

He stood up from the couch, walking towards the kitchen. He was so tall, and his shoulders broad. He moved pretty gracefully for such a tall guy. His sweater was wrinkled, but it actually looked good on him still. It went perfectly with the bed head. I shook my head to try to displace the thoughts. He looked at me over his shoulder.

“There’s been, well, some developments. We thought it was best if someone was here with you. Do you like cheese in your grilled cheese?” He asked going into the kitchen, chuckling at his own stupid joke. 

I laid back onto the couch, vaguely wondering what these developments were that made them feel that I needed an in-house detective to stay with me. I was so tired, still. I closed my eyes, listening to him moving around my kitchen. His messy hair was so adorable… I wondered what it would feel like to run your fingers though it. Mina, you need to stop this right now, these thoughts are not going to lead to anything good. But I bet its really soft… I thought as I drifted back to sleep. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in my bedroom, looking out the window, into the wheat fields behind my house. It was very windy and the sky was a bruised color, like a big storm was heading in. The wind was whipping the stalks, creating patterns in the sea of wheat. Lightning flashed across the sky, reaching like fingers. 

I could see someone. A tall, imposing man. He was just standing in the field. He was completely still, almost as if he were a statue. He was staring at the house. No, he was staring at the window I was standing in. Suddenly, I knew. He could see me in the window. He started moving towards the house. 

I turned and ran to the stairs, but when I got there, he was at the bottom. Just standing there. It was Sven. I backed away from the top of the stairs, and turned to run towards the window again, when I ran right into someone. Strong arms reached out and held me to a hard chest. 

I looked up into those clear blue eyes. It was Detective Martinsson. Magnus. 

“Oh, thank God! Magnus. He’s here! He’s in the house! Please, you have to help me!” I cried. 

“Shhh. I’m right here. You’re safe, Mina. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’m here.” He said, rubbing his large hands up and down my arms. 

“But we have to get out of here! He’s here to kill me! He will kill us both, I know it!” I cried, looking over to the stairs, expecting Sven to already be at the top. 

“No one is here besides the two of us. I’m here. No one is going to hurt you, Darling. You are safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He soothed. He was brushing my hair back from my forehead with his hand. 

I opened my eyes a fraction. I was laying on my couch. Magnus was sitting next to me, my head was on his leg. Where was my pillow? He was rubbing my upper arm with one hand and smoothing back my hair with the other. He was whispering soothing words. I had been having a nightmare. I closed my eyes quickly, embarrassed. 

“I’m right here, Mina. It’s ok. You’re safe.” He said gently. I sighed. I suddenly wished that the current circumstances weren’t the only reason he was here, comforting me, holding me. He stopped moving his hand on my arm, just letting it rest, same with the hand smoothing my hair. He did continue speaking in a low voice, soft words, meant to comfort. 

As I was drifting back to sleep, he said, “I’m not going anywhere, unless you want me to.” I wasn’t sure if I responded out loud or not.

“Magnus, don’t leave me. Stay.” I whispered. 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I woke again, my injured arm was hanging off the side of the couch and it had no feeling. I groaned as I pulled it back up with my good arm. That was going to hurt when the circulation came back, I thought. I arched my back, groaning again. Sleeping on the couch for this long had not been the best idea. 

I opened an eye and looked around the living room. Light was filtering in through the gauzy curtains, and from the look of it, it was past noon. Charlie was asleep on the floor in a patch of sunlight, something he usually did in the afternoon. 

Detective Martinsson was not there. Wondering where he was, I sat up. I was feeling ravenous. I felt like I could actually eat a horse. As I went to stand up, a woman walked into the living room. 

“Good morning, Ms. Petersson. Sorry to startle you. I’m Detective Hoglund, I don’t know if you remember me from the other morning?” She said smiling kindly at me. I pulled my blanket around me, suddenly feeling under dressed.

“Yes, of course. Are you stuck with watching me now?” I asked, giving an awkward chuckle. I didn’t know how to ask if the curly-haired detective would be back again. 

“Oh, just for a little while.” She said, giving me a sideways smile. “You’ve been asleep for a long time, though I don’t blame you. I’d want to just sleep, too, if I’d been through what you have. I’ve been given explicit instructions to make sure you eat something before I ask the questions I have for you.”

I nodded, as my stomach growled. I gave the pretty brunette a small smile, which she returned. She motioned for me to proceed her into the kitchen. I went, with my blanket wrapped around me, shuffling ahead of her. 

I grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table and went to rinse it under the tap. I cut it up into pieces and put it on a plate, setting the plate on the table. I grabbed a cup of yogurt from the fridge, noticing a large stack of grilled cheese sandwiches sitting in there. I smiled. 

“Oh, I’m so rude. Would you like something to eat? Or some coffee? Tea?” I asked Detective Hoglund. I was filling the coffee pot as I spoke. 

“Coffee would be lovely, thank you.” She said. She had sat down at the kitchen table, the same chair Magnus had sat in yesterday, or was it two days ago? I wasn’t really sure. She pulled out her phone, texting someone and set it on the table. 

“Silly question, but what day is it?” I asked her over my shoulder. 

“It’s Thursday.” She said with a small laugh. I nodded.

I sat and ate my breakfast as the coffee brewed and we made small talk. 

“Do you live out here by yourself?” She asked. I nodded. 

“Yes. I like it out here. Its peaceful. Quiet. Although, if I’m honest, I’m not a fan of being so secluded at the moment.” I smiled ruefully. 

“I understand. So you work from home, then?” She asked. 

“Yes. I keep the books for a several businesses.” I told her, getting up to pour the coffee. “Milk? Sugar?” I asked her. 

“Just milk, please. So, how often do you visit the businesses that you work for?” She asked. 

“Depends.” I said, my head in the fridge, grabbing the milk that thankfuly Magnus had gotten. The one I had was expired apparently. I put the small glass bottle on the table. Who buys milk in the glass bottle anymore? I thought. 

“Some more than others. I have one that they email me everything, so I’ve never actually been to the office. Home Interiors was usually every other week, or more if Steven had a lot of business. I assume that’s what you wanted to know?” I asked her, setting the coffee down in front of her. She smiled.

“Yes. Thank you. How long had you worked for Steven?” She said as she poured the milk in her coffee and stirred it. She took a sip and made an appreciative noise. 

“Nothing like a cup of coffee, eh?” I asked. She nodded. “Let’s see, I started working for Steve about three years ago. Almost four, actually. He was an ok boss. Paid me well, didn’t ask me to fudge the books. I did their accounts payable and receivable.”

“So you saw pretty much everything that went in and out, money wise?” She asked, sipping her coffee again. 

“I guess. Everything he told me about. I would go in and he would give me all his receipts, and invoices for customers. I would send out bills, and in turn pay the bills. I never saw anything that seemed off?” I questioned, because I knew what she was getting to. 

“Did you ever think that he was into something illegal?” She asked.

“Honestly, no. He didn’t seem the type. A few of my other bosses, possibly.” I chuckled a little at my awkward attempt at a joke. She smiled. 

I went over to the large cabinet that covered most of one wall and grabbed my small first aid kit, I needed to put new bandages on my feet. They actually didn’t feel too bad, but I didn’t want them to get infected. As I placed the bandages on the few cuts that were decent sized, I thought of something. 

“Do you want to see the books? I’m sure you have the ones that were at Home Interiors, but I keep a separate set for my own records. I don’t trust computers, they fail, or in case the records that are kept at the business ever come into question. My bosses don’t know I keep them. I had worked for a place up north before I came here, where the owner changed the books, but I had my own copies. The police took them as evidence.” I said, shaking my head at the memory. 

“That would be helpful, I’m sure. Thank you. What about Anna, the secretary? Could she have been involved in anything that may have been trouble?” She asked. I finished with the bandages, and cleaned up the wrappers, throwing them away. 

“I’m not sure. She had a boyfriend. I don’t think he’s a very nice guy. From what I could gather, he did odd jobs. She had mentioned his name when I was refinishing the cottage, but I preferred to do it on my own.She never confided in me, but I think he pushed her around. She would have bruises, sometimes. But maybe she was just clumsy.” I said, holding my coffee with both hands, letting the warmth of the cup calm me. 

“Do you remember his name? We may want to speak to him.” She took out a note pad and pen. 

“I think it was Jared. I’m pretty sure they lived together. She didn’t really talk too much about him. Usually when we talked, it was her telling me that its not healthy to live alone and be by myself and they I need to get out more.” I gave a humorless laugh. “I’m going to miss her. She was the closest thing I had to a friend. I’ve been down here for 5 years, and I just never made an effort to meet people, I guess. It’s hard to start over from scratch, in a new place. It was easier to stay home. Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t care about all this stuff! Let me get the books.” I said, swiping at the tear that had traveled down my cheek. 

I got up from my chair and went over to the cellar stairs. I kept my office in the cellar, that way my work didn’t invade my personal space. I had refinished it when I bought the cottage. I had refinished most of the cottage, actually. 

I grabbed a sweater from the hook by the door, throwing it on over my tank top, and went down the stairs, the detective following me. At the bottom of the stairs was my washer and dryer and a counter for folding laundry. At the end of the counter was a door. I opened the door and flipped on the light. 

It wasn’t a large room, but there was lots of light and it was a light lavender color. I had put down a light colored hardwood floor. I tired to make it bright and cheerful. 

“This is a nice office. I was a little worried. I didn’t know what I was going to see when we came into the basement!” Detective Hoglund laughed. “I’ve seen some things in my days.”

I smiled at her and made my way over to the cabinet where I kept my copies of the books. I was pulling out the yearly books for Home Interiors when we heard a loud bang above our heads, like someone had kicked in the kitchen door. There was another loud bang and a crash as the door collided with the wall from the force, knocking down the decorative plate that hung there. 

Detective Hoglund pulled her gun out of the holster and grabbed my arm, pushing me under my desk. She ran over to the light switch and turned it off, I heard her lock the door. She came back around to my side of the desk and crouched down. 

“Shhhh. Whatever happens, just stay there.” She whispered. We could hear the loud foot steps of someone going from room to room. We could hear them ascend the stairs to my bedroom. 

“Shouldn’t we try to get out while they are upstairs?” I whispered frantically. 

“No, we don’t know that there is only one. There could be someone standing in the kitchen for all we know.” She whispered back. 

We could hear the person coming quickly down the stairs. The cellar door opened and footsteps could be heard on the stairs. They stopped outside the office door. The door handle was tried. It was silent on the other side of the door. I was biting my hand to keep from screaming. How was it possible that I was hiding under a desk, again?

There was a loud bang as someone shouldered their way into the room. I put my head down on my knees as I felt Detective Hoglund moving around the edge of the desk, her gun pointed at the door.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: violence/blood/guns/language

Detective Hoglund crouched at the corner of the desk, and peeked out at the door. There was no one there. She motioned for me to stay put and keep quiet. She inched around the desk and moved over towards the wall, her gun still trained on the door. She slowly approached the door, staying to the side. 

I poked my head up, just enough to watch her. She was inching towards the door. Just as she drew even with the door, a very large arm struck out and clocked her. She was thrown to the side a bit, but stayed on her feet. The person at the door took advantage of her momentary disorientation and lunged at her. 

He put on of his hands on her gun. He was much bigger than her and managed to point the gun down towards the ground. She kicked out, connecting with his shin and was able to pull the gun up and fire. The sound was deafening in the small, underground room. At the sound of the gun, I dropped to the floor again, crawling under the desk. 

I could see them struggling, and then I saw her fall to the ground, limp. The man was hobbling over to the desk. She must have shot him in the leg, I thought. I felt around on the floor, hoping that I could maybe find something to attempt to defend myself with. Just as my fingers wrapped around a pencil, I was pulled up off the floor by my hair. 

Crying out in pain, I pulled against his hand, only managing to hurt myself more. I tried to swing out at my attackers face with the pencil. He brutually grabbed my injured arm, and twisted it, causing me to scream. 

“Behave yourself then, girl.” He spat. I stopped fighting, wondering why he hadn’t just killed me. 

“Is she dead? Did you kill her?” I cried. He chuckled darkly. 

“No. But I will if you don’t cooperate.” He growled in my ear. 

“What did you do to her? Are you going to kill me?” I asked him frantically. 

“Just a little medicine, she’ll be fine. I’m not trying to kill anymore people than I have to. Plus, the boss doesn’t like to snuff out police officers. He’s not going to be happy about the one out front.” He said, shaking his head, as if he regretted what he had done. 

“You killed the officer out front?” I gasped, trying to pull away from him again. He tightened his hold in my hair. 

“Are you taking me to your boss? The old man that was with Sven? Please, please don’t take me to them. They want to kill me.” I pleaded. 

“The old man? You mean Ian? He’s not the boss. He just likes to think he’s the boss. Kinda like an in between guy. No, you’re going to see Richard. He’s in charge. He has some questions for you. He was very upset your last meeting didn’t happen. He’s very interested in meeting you.” He said, pulling me along. I was actually taken aback by how free he was with information. 

“Where’s Sven? I assumed it would be him coming to get me, eventually.” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. If I could just keep him talking, maybe I could figure out a way to get away from him, I thought. 

“Ah. Well. Richard wasn’t happy when he lost you that second time. Was not happy at all. Too bad, really. Nice guy, Sven. Liked to bake. Would make everyone cookies at Christmas. But, he should have kept his wits about him and done his job right. So now I had to come out here and pick up his mess. Not in my job description, but I do what I’m told.” He grumbled. 

I noticed that he was limping pretty severely, leaving a trail of blood along the floor behind him. He pulled me over to the stairs and stood looking up them. 

“Up you go, and don’t try anything stupid. If you get away from me, I’ll just come back here and kill her.” He said. I began climbing, slowly. 

“Where are you taking me?” I asked him, looking over my shoulder at him. He was limping up the stairs behind me, holding the banister tightly with one hand. 

“I told you, now go.” He barked. 

“No, you told me who I was going to see, not where.” I said. He looked up at me, exasperated. If it hadn’t been so scary, it may have been comical. 

“Warehouse by the docks. Now move or I’ll shoot you.” He said, pointing the gun at me again. 

I turned and continued up the stairs. I was trying to think of other questions to ask him. I reached to top of the stairs, and I turned to ask him about his boss, when I felt my heart jump in my chest. 

Magnus. He was standing in the kitchen to the side of the door with his gun drawn. He brought his finger to his lips. He motioned for me to continue forward, but slowly. I gave him a very small nod. I kept walking, trying not to run. 

As the man came to the top of the stairs, Magnus advanced on him, hitting the arm that held the gun hard with the butt of his own gun. The man's gun clattered to the floor. I lurched forward and grabbed the gun off the floor. Magnus backed away from him and pointed his own gun at the man. 

“Police. Don’t move.” He said, his voice sounding deadly calm. I was a little impressed. The man looked at me, then at Magnus, held up his hands in surrender. Magnus was reaching for his hand cuffs when the man lunged at him. 

Instinct kicked in, and I pulled up the gun, aiming at the knee on his uninjured leg, and fired. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Magnus turned to look at me, shock written all over his face. I dropped the gun to the floor, and felt myself starting to shake. Magnus started towards me and I threw myself into his arms.

“Magnus! I had to hide under the desk again!” I wailed into his chest. “Oh my God, Detective Hoglund, you have to go to her, he knocked her out with something.“ 

He pulled me back, his hands on my face, "Mina, are you hurt at all?” He asked me urgently. I shook my head. “How the hell did you learn to shoot like that?”

“M-m-my d-d-daaaaad!” I wailed. 

He held me tightly while I cried into his shirt. I vaguely acknowledged the other officers now swarming into my kitchen. Magnus was directing them, telling some to go downstairs to Detective Hoglund. He was rubbing my back, slowly, saying comforting words in a low voice. 

Medics came in and loaded my attacker onto a stretcher and took him away with a police escort. He was silent the whole time. He wouldn’t even tell the medics what his pain level was.

A few minutes later, Detective Hoglund came back up with the officers that had gone down to help her. “Oh, Mina, are you alright? Thank God you came when you did, Magnus.” She said, grabbing my hand. “I’m sorry, Mina.”

“Don’t be crazy!” I exclaimed. “If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I’m the reason all this is happening. I’m the reason that poor officer is d-d-d-” I chocked on the word and buried my head into Magnus’s shirt again. 

“Officer Lundgren isn’t dead, Mina. He’s very seriously injured, but he was awake when I got here. You just happened to be in the wrong place. None of this has anything to do with you, other than you worked for someone who got on their bad side.” Magnus said into my hair. 

“Why would he try to kill Lundgren, but not me?” Detective Hoglund asked. 

“I don’t understand either. Maybe because you’re a woman? Why use chloroform on you, but shoot Lundgren?” He asked her. I had my head resting on his chest, and he was still holding me tightly. I suddenly realized how inappropriate this was and tried to pull away. He tightened his hold on me, looking down at me. His gaze was so intense. I stayed where I was. 

“He said that he didn’t want to kill anyone unless he had to. He said that his boss’s name was Richard and that’s where he was taking me. Some warehouse on the water. The man that tried to take me at the hospital, Sven? I think he’s dead. He said that Richard was very unhappy with him. He also said the other man, the older man that was with Sven the night they killed Steven and Anna? His name is Ian, and he’s like a foreman. But he likes to think he’s the boss. He told me that his boss doesn’t like it when they kill police officers and he wasn’t going to be happy about Officer Lundgren.” I said in a rush. 

They both looked at me like I had three heads. 

“Well, he was very talkative, so I asked him some questions. I don’t think he’s the brightest apple in the bunch. I bet he would tell you more if you question him at the hospital. He said that this wasn’t in his job description, but he does what he’s told.” I said, feeling awkward.

“Good job, Mina. I’m impressed that you were able to think of asking him questions while under such duress.” Detective Hoglund said kindly. “I’m going to go and brief Kurt and head to the hospital to see if we can get any more information from him. Are you two all set?” She asked, looking at Magnus. 

“She’s not safe here anymore.” He said to her. He looked down at me. "Mina, can you go pack a bag? I’m going to take you’ll somewhere you’ll be safe, ok?“

I nodded and broke away from him, reluctantly. It was the first time I had felt safe for days. I left them talking in my kitchen, skirted around the pool of blood on the floor and went up to my bedroom.

I stood there in the middle of my room, holding my overnight bag, not even knowing what to do. Again the adrenaline rush was wearing off and the realization of what had happened was sinking in. A mans life was hanging by a thread, because of me. He had been guarding my house. No one could tell me that it wasn’t my fault he was being taken to the hospital, and not going home to his family. 

I managed to get to my closet, when I heard the top stair creak. I looked around to find Magnus standing there, watching me closely. I gave him a halfhearted smile. He slowly walked over to me and reached out his hand to my cheek. When his fingers brushed my skin, I leaned into his touch. 

"Mina…. I was so worried. I thought…” I looked up into those blue eyes, and saw the horrors that he must see everyday. I reached up with my good hand, cupping his cheek. I didn’t know what this was, this connection between us. I knew he could feel it too. I could see it on his face. 

He gathered me in his arms, pulling me close. He hugged me to him, tightly, as if he were scared to let me go. I leaned my head back, so I could see his face. He must have left to go home and shower. His hair was a halo of curls again, I was almost sad the bed head was gone. 

“Thank you, Magnus.” I said quietly. He raised an eyebrow in question. “For saving me. I know that if I had gone with him, I would have died, eventually. He said that his boss was very eager to meet me. Why, I have no idea, but I don’t think that I would have walked out of that meeting alive. So, thank you.” 

I stood up on my tip toes and brushed my lips across his. He pulled back, his eyes widening a bit, staring deep into mine, like he was looking at my soul. He leaned forward and claimed my mouth, kissing me deeply. I fell against him, feeling myself melt. His hands were firm on my hips, pulling me closer. 

All of a sudden, he was gone. I opened my eyes to see him stepped back from me, looking like he wanted nothing better than to grab me again. It sent a thrill through me. He cleared his throat and looked away. 

“Ah. We really should be going. I want to get you somewhere safe as soon as possible. Do you need help packing?” He asked. I smiled to myself. It was killing him to have to be the professional. 

“I don’t suppose I’ll need a fancy dinner dress where I’m going, will I?” I asked him, turning and going into my closet. He gave me a small smile from the doorway of my closet. 

“Ill take that as a no, then.” I said. I unzipped my sweater, thinking that I should ask him to turn around, or close the door, but I wanted to see what his reaction would be. I dropped my sweater on the floor and put my fingers to the waist of my short. I slowly pulled them down, letting them fall to the floor. I looked up at his face. He was in a full blush, he looked like he knew he should look away, but his eyes were glued to my legs. 

I walked over to the shelves and pulled out a pair of jean, pulling them on. Like this was totally normal. That I usually give half strip teases to police detectives I just met a few days ago. I turned my back to him and pulled my tank top over my head. I heard his sharp intake of breath. 

I pulled a bra out of a drawer and slipped it on. I grabbed a long sleeve t-shirt and pulled it over my head. I turned to look at him. He was rooted to the spot, looking like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to make love to me or throttle me. I gave him a small smile. 

I grabbed a few pairs of jeans and some yoga pants. A few t-shirts and a sweatshirt. I went over to my dresser and pulled out some shorts, tanks, underwear, socks and bras. I stuffed it all into the bag. I slid past him into the bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulled on my socks. 

“So, Detective. Where are you taking me?” I asked him. 

“Somewhere there is no connection to you. Somewhere they will never think to look for you.” He said gruffly, still recovering from my little, ah, show. 

I went into the bathroom and threw my toiletries into a smaller bag and met him back in the bedroom. He grabbed the bags from me. He leaned down and kissed my lips, gently. 

“It will be ok, Mina. I promise. We will find them.” He said, earnestly. I just gave him a smile in return. He proceeded me down the stairs. There were still some officers milling about, taking pictures and whatnot. 

“Can I grab my laptop and some files from downstairs? I’d like to get some work done if I can.” I asked him. He nodded and escorted me down the stairs to retrieve the computer and the files I needed. I also gave him the ledgers that I had been getting for Detective Hoglund when the man had broke into the house. 

I followed him back up the stairs and outside to his car. He opened the door for me, helping me in the car. He threw my bags in the back. 

We drove back to the city. I thought for a moment that he was taking me to the police station, because we were passing it. He turned onto a side street at the next block, and pulled in a driveway that went behind a small apartment building. He led me up the outdoor stairs to the third floor apartment. He unlocked the door and held it open for me. 

I was struck by the hominess of the living room. A large, brown, worn leather couch sat in front of a big TV. There was a tartan throw blanket hanging over the arm of a tweed arm chair. The other furnishings were simple, and masculine. Everything seemed made for comfort. I turned to see him watching me. 

“This is pretty nice for a safe house. They always seem so seedy in novels.” I joked. He laughed nervously. 

“Magnus….” I said, walking towards him. 

“This is my apartment. I hope you don’t mind. I just thought that this would be the safest place and-” I cut of his nervous rant, throwing myself into his arms. 

“You must be the most caring man I’ve ever met. Bringing me into your house. Your home. To keep me safe. Thank you, Magnus.” I said into his chest. He squeezed me tighter. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a dinner of takeout, I sat in the arm chair, attempting to get some work done. The numbers just weren’t making sense. I finally admitted defeat and closed my laptop. Magnus had been pouring over the ledgers. 

“You never noticed anything odd? Any new distributors? Any new customers that only bought one thing?” He asked me.

“Steven was always finding new vendors. It was a home design firm. He would find some guy in a village in China that makes vases. He would buy thirty. Then he would find some woman in Turkey that makes rugs and buy five. It varied. More often than not, he would only buy from the same person once. ” I said, leaning back in the chair and watching him. 

He kept running his hands through his hair. The result was some serious volume. I wondered if he did that at work often. I giggled. He looked up at me, confused. 

“Sorry. You have lovely hair.” I said quietly. He blushed and smiled at me. 

“What about new customers?” He asked me, his face still red. 

“Well, its a home design company. How often do you redo your kitchen? Even if you’re a repeat customer, you only have so many rooms in your house. I’m sorry. I’m not being very helpful, am I?” I sighed. I was exhausted, but he was sitting on my bed. I yawned and curled my legs up under me. 

“Are you ready for bed?” He asked me. 

“I could sleep.” I joked. 

Magnus insisted that I take his bed, and he would sleep on the couch. After much arguing, he won, and I went into his bedroom, feeling all kinds of awkward. I crawled into his large bed and curled up under the covers. It smelled of him. I took a deep breath, and snuggled deeper into the covers. 

I tried to sleep for the better part of an hour. I couldn’t stop thinking about the tall, handsome detective, currently trying to fit his tall frame onto that couch. Really, we could share a bed. And you’re fooling yourself if you think that all that will happen is sleeping, I thought. 

I threw the covers back and padded out into the living room. I held back a laugh at the sight that greeted me. His feet were hanging over the arm of the couch. He was way too tall. I could hear him breathing, but I didn’t thiknk that he was actually sleeping. I walked over and stood next to him. 

He opened one eye and pushed himself up on his elbow. As the sheet fell back, I saw that he didn’t have a shirt on. My mouth felt dry. 

“What is it? Are you ok? Can I get you something?” He asked, concerned.

I didn’t say anything, just reached out and took his hand, tugging him off the couch. I pulled him with me back to the bedroom, and climbed into the bed, turning to my side. 

He took my hint and climbed in the bed next to me. I looked over my shoulder at him, and he was watching me, his eyes connecting with mine. I scooted back, so that he was spooning me. His arm immediately came around and settled on my stomach. I sighed, finally able to relax and fall asleep.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirty bits - or lots. Dirty Lots. Language/guns/violence/accounting

I wasn’t really asleep. I was in that in between stage, where shadows and light mix together and dreams are just at the edge of your vision. I could still feel his arm around my middle, his large, strong hand resting against my navel. I felt content. I felt safe. I vaguely realized that it had been a very long time, even before all this had happened, that I had truly felt safe. 

I could feel his breath on my shoulder, warm and comforting. His fingers on my stomach moved slowly up and down, caressing the skin that had been exposed when my tank top rode up a little. Fully awake now, I felt a jolt of desire course through me. I wondered, should I encourage him, or just wait and see where he went? I decided to see what the Good Detective would do. 

After another few minutes of him just lightly running his fingers over my stomach, I felt him shift his body closer to mine. His lips brushed where my neck and shoulder met. 

“Mina?” He whispered. 

“Hmmm?” I answered him, pushing my back into him a bit, giving my hips a little swivel. He kissed behind my ear, his hand coming up and slowly skimming up my arm. He gently nipped at my earlobe. I arched my neck to give him better access, which he took full advantage of, kissing down to my shoulder and back up. 

His fingers trailed their way down from my shoulder, grazed the side of my breast, ran along my side to rest on the crest of my hip. He squeezed me lightly, and pulled me into him. I could feel his erection, hard and insistent against my back. His tongue was running along the shell of my ear. I let out a shaky breath. His hand stilled at my hip. 

“Mina, is this ok?” He asked, his voice hoarse. 

In response, I turned to face him, so I could look into his eyes. I ran a finger along his eyebrow, down his cheek, and along his bottom lip, studying him as I went. He was beautiful. I pulled my own lip between my teeth. He groaned and pulled me to him, his lips seeking out mine and gently biting my bottom lip, his teeth teasing it the way mine had just been. He moved over me, I could feel the muscles in his shoulders moving under my hand. 

His lips scorched a trail along my jaw, kissing, nibbling, licking his way down my neck. He nuzzled his way to the edge of my tank, and ran his tongue along the edge. I took the initiative and just pulled it up and over my head. He eyed my breasts hungrily. Then, his eyes flicking up to mine for the briefest second, he leaned over me and took one in his mouth. He sucked at it, ran his tongue along the edge of my nipple making me cry out and come up off the bed to get closer to his heavenly mouth. I thought I heard a low chuckle. 

My legs instinctively wrapped around his hips and pulled him closer to me. I slid my hand over his back, lightly scratching him. He ground himself into me, causing me to moan. He reached back and pulled my legs from his waist, pinning my thighs apart with his large hands. He continued his decent. 

He ran his tongue along my stomach, causing me to draw in a sharp breath. He looked up at me and winked, his tongue dipping in and kissing my belly button as one hand let go of my leg and came up to pull at my shorts. I helped him by lifting my bottom off the bed and he pulled them down the rest of the way and tossed them on the floor to join my top. He grabbed my ass with both hands, squeezing, hard. 

He kissed my hip, moving his way to my thigh, then the inner thigh, getting closer and closer to my core. His butterfly kisses were so gentle and so sweet. I had known he would be a good lover, that he would be tender and passionate, I thought. I knew at soon as I saw him sitting on my couch with-

“Charlie!” I cried out, pushing myself up on my elbows. 

His head popped up, his hair all disheveled. He stared at me with an incredulous look on his flushed face.

“What? My name is Magnus! Who the fuck is Charlie?” He demanded. 

“What? I know your name! Charlie is my cat! Oh my God. You thought I was calling you Charlie?” I blinked, registering the look on face. I snorted. My hand flew up to cover my mouth. I couldn’t believe I had just snorted. I was trying to hide my laughter, but it burst out. I flopped back on the bed, rolling from side to side, laughing hysterically. My arms were drawn up and I was flailing like a moron. 

“You. You thought…Oh… You… Oh… My.. I’m sorry… Its… Not…F-f-funny!” I cackled. I could feel tears rolling down my face. I was trying and failing to stop the laughter. I managed to peek at him and he had a huge grin on his face. Thank God, I thought. He saw the humor.

“You are beautiful when you laugh, did you know that?” He said. I laughed even harder at that. 

“I’m ok, I’m ok, I’m ok. Woooo.” I took a steadying breath and wiped at my eyes. “I’m sorry, Magnus. Oh my God. I’m so sorry. It was just the look on your face. I was thinking of that first night when you were sitting on my couch with Charlie in your lap, and I realized I had forgotten about him! I need to go and get him. He’s a jerk, but he’s my jerk.”

“It’s ok. At least it’s ok now that I know who Charlie is. That would have been the first time a woman has called me someone else’s name.” He said, settling back down on top of me, his fingers playing with my hair. 

“And what do they normally call you?” I asked teasingly. 

“Magnus usually. Sometimes “Oh, God.” He snickered. I laughed with him. “Will he be ok until the morning? He has food and water?”

“He won’t even notice I’m gone.” I said, putting my good hand in his hair. I was right, it was really soft. I pulled him down to me and kissed him, my tongue darting out to taste his bottom lip and ending the kiss with a small bite of the same. He let out a low growl. 

He reached between us, his fingers moving between my folds, already wet and waiting for him. He groaned as his fingers skimmed my warmth, one dipping in. He circled my clit with his thumb, gently pressing as he rubbed it. I moaned and found myself practically riding his hand. 

“Oh my God. Oh, Magnus!” I sighed into his neck, kissing him. 

“See? Magnus and God.” He chuckled. I swatted him with my hand that had been wrapped in his hair. 

He continued his exploration until I was keening with need. I pulled at his sweatpants with desperation. He pulled away from me and rid himself of them in what must have been record time and was back, before I even missed his warmth. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him to me. 

He was holding himself up above me, his arms holding his weigh, looking at my face, as if he was trying to memorize it. He lowered himself enough to kiss my forehead, then my eyelids, nose, cheeks, chin, an lastly my mouth. His kiss was slow and sensual, his tongue slipping in and out, dancing with mine. It was lovely, and it was killing me. I needed him, now. His fingers were doing magical things, but I wanted him. 

I reached between us and grasped him. He was watching my face as my eyes widened as I realized the size of him. He gave me a small smile and closed his eyes as I began to stroke him. 

“Magnus. I need you. I want to feel you. Now. Please?” I begged. His fingers had increased their rythym and I could feel that I was at the edge. “I want to come with you inside me.” I whispered. 

“Mina, you’re going to be the death of me.” He groaned and pulled his fingers away and placed himself at my entrance. He slowly began pushing in, then pulled back a little. Pushed in a little more, pulled back. It was driving me crazy. I put my hands on his ass, and tried to pull him closer, but he was much stronger than me. 

“Magnus! I need you. All of you, right now!” I cried. He pushed forward, sinking himself all the way, our bodies meeting. I felt like the breath was knocked out of me. He held himself still, allowing me to adjust to the size of him. 

“Are you ok?” He asked, his face a mask of concentration. 

“Yeah, I asked for that.” I let out a shaky chuckle. He braced himself on with his forearms on either side of my head and leaned in and softly kissed me. He began moving in a slow, tortuous rythym. I could already feel myself starting to near the edge again. As his movements began to get more steady and increase in speed, I gripped at his back with my good hand. 

“Magnus! Oh… Oh….” I cried as I fell over the edge and shattered. He increased his pace, and his movements became jerky and not as smooth. He was nearing his release. He reached between us and began circling my swollen bud with his finger again, causing me to cry out as another orgasm crashed into me as he grunted his release. 

He collapsed partially on top of me, still holdng himself up on his forearms. He brushed my hair from my face and kissed my forehead. He captured my lips in a long and slow kiss. He pulled out and fell to the side, pulling me with him. He gathered me into his arms, his chin on the top of my head. I wrapped my good arm around his back, lightly running my fingers up and down his muscles. We lay there, holding each other, catching our breath.

After a while, he rolled over to his back, bringing me with him so that I was half on top of him. I put my chin on his chest and looked at him. He was staring back at me, when his brows contracted and he got this look of deep concentration. 

“What?” I asked, self conscious. 

“Nothing. Well, not nothing. I was just wondering why they wanted you so badly. Why not just kill you if they were concerned that you might ID them. What purpose could they have to actually want to talk to you?” He asked. 

“Oh, right. That. I forgot for a minute that this wasn’t just, like, a normal thing.” I gave a small laugh as I pulled away from him and sat up, wrapping the sheet around me. 

“Mina.” He said softly, reaching out to me and pulling me back to him. I went, but I looked away from his piercing blue eyes. “Mina. Look at me.” He demanded. 

Reluctantly I turned my head to him, looking at his chest. I don’t know why I was getting so emotional over this, but I could feel the tears welling in my eyes. He gently grabbed my chin and tilted my head towards his so I had to look him in the eye. 

“This has nothing to do with that. You and I have nothing to do with the investigation or what has happened in the past few days. If I had seen you at the pub, or in the market, it wouldn’t have been any different.” He stopped at my raised eyebrow. “Well, maybe a little different, but I still would have wanted to meet you, to talk to you, get to know you. To be with you. I would have wanted you in my bed. In my arms. The odd circumstances doesn’t change anything between us.” 

“I’m sorry. I’m being stupid.” I said, looking away again. 

“Its alright. I actually kind of like that you feel strongly enough about this to get upset over it. If that makes sense.” He said, pulling me back to him and kissing my forehead. I sighed and snuggled down onto his chest, listening to his heart beat. 

“I don’t know why they want to talk to me so badly. I can’t think of anything that I would know that would be of interest to them. Maybe they think that I knew about whatever this product is. That Steve shared with me what he was doing. Maybe I’ll take another look at the books tomorrow to see if anything odd jumps out at me.” I pondered. 

“I’ll have to go in to work tomorrow. I need to help with the investigation. I want to find these bastards, quickly. You can come with me if you will feel safer there. I don’t think that they would know that you are here, but I can send an officer to sit outside if you would rather stay here.” He said, brushing my hair with his fingers. 

“I’ll be fine here. I don’t think that you’ll need to risk another officer on my behalf.” I said, a little uncomfortable thinking about someone else possibly getting hurt because of me. He ignored my comment. 

“We can go get Charlie in the morning, then I can bring you back here. With the information that you got from the intruder, I think that we should be making head way with finding these guys.” He said.

“I hope so.” I said, yawning and closing my eyes. 

“Goodnight, Mina.” Magnus whispered into my hair. 

I kissed his chest in reply.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was filtering through the shade, dimly lighting the room. I looked over and realized that I was by myself. I pulled the sheet around me and went out into the living room, expecting to find Magnus in there or the small kitchen. What I was not expecting was Detective Hoglund, sitting at the kitchen table, tapping away at a laptop. She looked up when I walked around the corner. 

“Hi Mina.” She said, giving me an embarrassed smile. “Magnus went to get your cat. He asked me to come and sit with you until he got back. He said he wanted to let you sleep..”

“Ah. Well. Good morning Detective. I’m just going to go-” I motioned vaguely towards anywhere but the kitchen with my sheet covered hand, she nodded knowingly. 

I practically ran back to the bedroom, digging out clothes from my bag and throwing on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I noticed one of Magnus’s sweaters hanging over the arm of the chair and threw that on over my t-shirt. I was lovely and warm. It smelled like him. It came down to my knees. It made me feel a little better about waking up alone. I went back into the kitchen to join Detective Hoglund. 

“Any progress on the case, Detective Hoglund?” I asked her, sitting down across from her. 

“Please, call me Anna. Even though I work with Magnus, we’re also friends. I have a feeling we are going to get to be friends, too.” She grinned at me. “Yes and no. We think that we found the warehouse they were going to take you to. We are pretty sure it’s that one because someone set it on fire last night. Most likely destroyed any evidence there was in the place. We will see once it’s safe to get in there and look around.”

“Oh my god. These people are insane, aren’t they?” I asked her, feeling my stomach drop. “What if they don’t stop until they find me? I don’t even know why they want me. I don’t know anything.” 

“Well, I was thinking about that. Maybe you do, and you just don’t know that you do. Magnus said that you had offered to go over the books again. Maybe there will be something in there. Meanwhile, we are searching the databases for Richards and Ians that have any connections in the area or to Steven. So far there hasn’t been anything.”

The door opened in the living room. Anna pulled her gun from its holster and stood up. 

“It’s me.” Magnus called. I could hear Charlie growling from his carrier. He hated being boxed up. I went to help him.

He had a box with Charlie’s litter box and food bowl. He had grabbed his food and scratching post as well. He se the carrier on the floor and let the angry feline out. 

Charlie stalked out of the box, sat down and licked his tail. He looked around, surveying the landscape. He looked me up and down and jumped into my arms, head butting me and purring loudly. 

“Oh, look who’s turned into a softy on me!” I exclaimed, shocked at the affection my normally grouchy cat was showing me. 

“Well, I think he’s had a rough night. Took me a while to find him. He must have been scared. He was hiding in your closet.” Magnus put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry Mina, but someone broke into your house and tore it apart, looking for something. The majority of the damage was in your office, but your bookshelves upstairs were stripped, too. I think they were looking for the ledgers for Home Interiors. All of the other ones were on the floor in the basement.” 

“What the hell do they want from me?” I whispered, feeling like the breath had been knocked out of me. “Where the fuck are those books? I need to look at them, now. ” I demanded, stalking over to the coffee table where Magnus had them the night before. 

I plunked down and pulled the first one to me, opening it to the fisrt page and grabbing my pencil. I noticed Magnus and Anna talking quietly, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was concerntation too hard on the numbers. Anna said goodbye and went back to the police station. 

Magnus came over to the couch and leaned over the back, looking over my shoulder. 

“I don’t know how you look at numbers all day. Seems like it would be boring.” He said, leaning down and kissing the back of my neck. “Nice sweater.”

“Hmmm? Oh, well, I like accounting. When you balance your accounts, you should get a big fat zero at the end. Something about it makes me happy. The neatness of it, maybe." said absentmindedly. 

His phone rang and he picked it up, going into the other room to take the call. He came back in a few minutes and said that he had to get to the station, but that he was sending an officer to sit outside. I nodded and took the kiss he offered me on his way by the couch. 

I went through the first book not seeing anything out of the ordinary. The next year however, I noticed that he had purchased from four different fabric companies in Columbia. Sometimes he would by fabric to have made into table cloths or curtains, but to have purchased from four different ones, the same amount, each transaction costing $9,500 was a little odd. I marked them. 

I hadn’t noticed it because the transactions were combined with other orders and they were spaced out over the course of a year. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for Steven to find multiple vendors and buy from each of them all at once so that he could ship all the products together and save on shipping. 

As I looked into the next year, there were five more transactions with fabric companies. I marked them as well. I grabbed my laptop and pulled up the accounts for Home Interiors. I scanned all invoices into the accounting software that I used. I pulled up all the questioned invoices. They were generated from the same accounting software. 

I pulled up the banking information and sure enough, same bank information and accounts. Now that I found it, I didn’t know how I had not noticed it before. Nine transactions over the course of two years. That was over $85,000 on fabric. I had to tell Magnus.

I stood up and grabbed my phone to call him, and realized I didn’t have his number. I thought to myself that I could wait until the officer arrived and have him call him. I was excited to share with him what I had found. I wandered over to the window, looking out towards the main street. I could see the police station from here. 

My decision made, I ran into the bedroom and slipped my feet into my sneakers, and grabbed a baseball hat off the dresser, pulling it on over my ponytail. I found a fabric shopping bag in the kitchen and put my laptop and the two ledgers in it. I let myself out of the apartment and walked quickly down the stairs.

I was practically running down the street, the police station in sight, when I had a thought that this was a monumentally stupid idea. What if they were watching the police station? 

I saw a handsome, young man coming out of the police station as I neared the door and his face registered somewhere in my brain. Did I know him from somewhere? He turned to me as I got closer.

"Mina? You were Anna’s friend from work?” He asked me. I slowed down, but was still moving towards the door. 

“Do I know you?” I asked him.

“I’m Jared, Anna’s boyfriend. Sorry, I recognized you from the picture she had on her desk at work of the two of you.” He said. He looked so sad, I stopped and turned towards him. 

“Oh, Jared. Right. I’m so sorry about Anna. She was such a sweet girl. I really - What picture?” I asked. Anna most certainly did not have a picture of me on her desk. I turned to run into the police station, but Jared grabbed my injured arm and twisted me towards a car parked on the street. I dropped my bag on the ground and tried to pull away from him, opening my mouth to scream. I felt something sharp poke into my stomach. 

“Be quiet, Mina, or I will stab you and let your boyfriend watch you while you bleed out all over the sidewalk. And then I’ll shoot him right before you die, so you can watch. Unlike my father, I have no problem killing cops. He has been looking forward to seeing you again.” He said pleasantly into my ear. He opened the back door and pushed me in, getting in next to me. I looked at who was in the drivers seat. 

“Well, then. What do we have here? Hello, my dear. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. And you just came to us. How perfect.” Ian said, smiling at me as he put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: violence/blood/guns/language/Angry Magnus.

Magnus was sitting at his desk, on the phone with the Kurt. It looked like the warehouse was a total loss. They did find the body of who they beileve to be Sven in the wereckage. He would have to be identified by dental records, if they could only figure out who he was. They only knew his first name. He thanked him and hung up the phone, leaning back in his chair, thinking about last night. A smile formed on his lips. 

“I think we should start looking into previous clients in the area. People that have used Home Interiors recently to redecorate for them. See if there is anything there.” He said to Anna. She nodded her agreement. Just then, Officer Lewinn came over to his desk with an elderly man in tow. 

“Detective. I think something has happened. To Ms. Petersson.” He said seriously. Magnus jumped up from his chair. 

“What do you mean? Isn’t Bergman there watching her?” Magnus questioned sharply. 

“He is, Sir. But he’s outside, and I think she left just before he got there… This gentleman said that he saw a woman in the front of the station matching Ms. Petersson’s description being forced into a car. And he said that she dropped this.” He held out the fabric shopping bag. Magnus recognized it as one from his kitchen. 

“No. No, please tell me she wasn’t this stupid.” He muttered under his breath as he snatched the bag. He opened it and found her laptop and the two ledgers from Home Interiors. “Shit. Get the security footage. Now!” He barked. He turned to the old man. He took a breath, trying to keep calm. 

“Please, Sir, sit down and tell me everything you saw.” He insisted. 

The old man took a seat in the chair that Magnus had just vacated. Anna had come over and stood next to Magnus. 

“I was just out for my morning walk, I walk every morning, my doctor says its good for my arthritis. Its my knees, they hurt something dreadful in the morning. It wakes me up. That’s why I get out so early in the morning. Seems to help some. Anyhow. I was walking and I saw this pretty young thing practically running down the street. I didn’t think much of it. Young people are always running about here and there. Always in a rush. You have to slow down and look at the world sometimes. It will pass you by if your always running from place to place, too busy to notice what’s going on around you. Anyhow. She had a really long sweater on and a blue ball cap. And pink sneakers. The colors they come in nowadays. I’m hard pressed to find a normal colored pair of shoes. What’s an 89 year old man going to do with bright green shoes? Anyhow. She had that bag. I’ve got some bags like that at home. Come in handy for all sorts of things. I like to put my books in them when I bring them back to the library. I usually walk there, too, because my doctor says I should walk. Do you have anything to drink? I'm a little parched.” He said, looking expectantly from one detective to another. 

“I’ll get you a tea?” Anna asked, hurrying to the break room. 

“This is a nice police station. I remember when it was built. Took them forever to decide which side of the road they were going to put it on. It was a big to do. Remember the day the day they opened it. You weren’t even a twinkle in your Papa’s eye yet, young man.“ The old man said, looking around. 

"I’m sorry, Mister….?” Magnus said, trying his hardest not to reach out and shake the old man. 

“Oh, how rude of me. Holmberg. James Holmberg.” He said, sticking his hand out. Magnus grit his teeth and shook the mans hand. 

“Detective Martinsson. Now, please, Mr. Holmberg. Can you tell me about who took her. We need to try to find them quickly before any harm comes to her.” He said urgently. 

“Oh, sorry. My mind wanders. I start talking about one thing and end up somewhere else. Thank you, dear.” He said as Anna brought back a cup of tea for him. He sat huddled with it in his hands and screwed up his face, trying to remember the details. 

“Well, like I said, she was running along, and there was a young man coming out of the police station that stopped her and they were talking. She seemed alright at first, but then she tried to run to the police station and he grabbed her and there was a little bit of a struggle, but she gave up and got in the car with him. I wouldn’t have thought much about it, except she dropped her bag.” Mr. Holmberg said. 

“Do you know what kind of car, or did you get the license plate?” Anna asked him. 

“It was a black luxury sedan, not sure of the make. License plate? I wasn’t close enough to see it. Sorry. I think that’s all the information I have for you.” He said.

“Thank you, Mr. Holmberg. Anna, I need you to put out a bulletin for that car. I’m going to see what’s taking Lewinn so long with the video.” Magnus said, marching out of the squad room.

He just got to the lobby when Officer Lewinn came running around the corner with a piece of paper. 

“I got the license number, and it’s registered to a Richard Gustavsson, Sir. Also, the man that took her was just in here asking about the case. He said that he was the young secretary’s boyfriend and wanted to know if there was anything that he could do to help! He said his name was Jared Smith. Sounds like a fake name, now that I think of it.” He recalled. 

Magnus grabbed the paper out of his hand and stalked back to the squad room, and thrust it into Anna’s hand. 

“I’m going to find her. Then I’m going to make her regret ever leaving the apartment. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t thinking, that’s the problem.” He said over his shoulder as he went over to his desk and grabbed his gun from the drawer. He pulled his overcoat on and proceeded out of the room. Anna hurried over to her desk and grabbed hers, and the bag with the laptop and ledgers and was right on his heels as he exited the building. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t understand. Why does your father want to speak to me so badly? If its because I’m a witness, why not just kill me like the others? Your men have definitely had the chance to just kill me, a few times.” I said to Jared, looking at him across the back seat of the car from my spot, crammed against the door, as far away from him as possible. He laughed. 

“You really have no idea? Oh, this is going to be good. You are in for quite the surprise, Mina.” He said, chuckling. I didn’t like the sound of that. I looked out the window fidgeting with the edge of my cast. 

We were driving back out to the country. The further we got from town, the more my situation became clear. I had no hope that I would make it out of this alive. I thought of the night before and of Magnus. I felt like we had really connected. I had thought that maybe we could have gone somewhere. Would he mourn me? I sighed. 

“You’re pretty calm for someone in you’re position.” Jared observed, twirling the knife in his hand. I watched the knife, and looked up at him when he cleared his throat. He was smiling at me. It was not a friendly smile. 

“Do I know you from somewhere? Other than through Anna? I don’t think she had ever shown me a picture of you, but you look so familiar.” I said, staring at him. 

“I want to tell you so badly, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise!” He crowed.

“Do you even feel bad about what they did to Anna? Was she in on this? Did she know who you were?” I asked him, deciding not to get intimidated by him, or at least not show that I was intimidated. If I was going to die, I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of knowing how scared I was. 

“She had no idea.” He shrugged his shoulders. “She wasn’t supposed to be there. I didn’t mean for her to get killed. She was just a means to an end. A way to get to Steven. He would do anything she said. He was in love with her. Sick really, he could have been her dad. I got her to get him to meet with my father. She thought he was a designer like Steven.” 

“So it’s my fault she’s dead. She was waiting for me to come and get my work.” I said quietly, looking down at my cast. 

“No, actually. Steven asked her to be there. I think he thought nothing would happen if she was there. Guy was an idiot. Got in over his head. Brought poor Anna down with him.” He said, shaking his head. 

“In over his head with what?” I asked, leaning forward a little. 

“Jared. I think you’ve shared enough with our, ah, guest.” Ian said from the front, looking at me in the mirror. 

“Relax, Ian. She isn’t going to be able to tell anyone anything. Not when I’m done with her.” He winked at me. My skin literally crawled. 

“She’s already escaped us three times. Just use some caution, my boy.” He reiterated. 

Jared rolled his eyes at the man, and looked at me as if to say, can you believe this guy. This was getting more and more surreal by the moment. 

We drove in silence for another few minutes, then Ian pulled the car up to an old farm house. Jared pushed me out of the car, following me and keeping the knife at my side. 

“I’m not going to run, there’s no need to keep poking me with that thing.” I snapped at him. I had to have four small cuts on my abdomen from him already.

“Feisty one, aren’t you?” He smirked. I looked at him. He looked younger than I had origionally thought. I gave him a saucy smile. Maybe I could figure out a way to befriend him? Probably not, but it was my only option at the moment. 

We entered the house, and it was cool and dark, the shades all drawn against the bright sun. We moved to the back of the house, to what looked like a library, or an office with a lot of books. There was no one in there. 

“I’ll go find your father, shall I?” Asked Ian. Jared nodded at him and motioned for me to sit in an overstuffed armchair. He sat on the edge of the desk, still toying with the knife. Once Ian left the room, I turned to him. 

“Is there anything I can do to get out of here? Any way I can convince you to let me go?” I asked him. He looked me up and down and I felt like I was going to vomit. 

“Hmm. Maybe we can work something out. I’ll have to see what my father wants to do with you first. He may have, ah, other plans for you as well. He’s been looking forward to seeing you again.” He leered. 

“Again?” I asked quickly. 

The door to the study opened. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anna hung up her phone, having just called in for an update on the search for the car. 

“No one has seen it yet, but Mr. Gustavsson owns several properties in the area. Three buildings in the city and a farm on the outskirts of town.” She gave him the address of the first one in town. She looked at Magnus, his jaw was clenched and he was gripping the steering wheel so tight, his knuckles were white.

“We’re going to find her, Magnus.” She said quietly.

“How could she have been so stupid, Anna? She knew they were looking for her. Why would she leave the safety of my apartment? What could have been so important that she couldn’t have waited?” He banged his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. 

Anna had pulled out the ledgers and was flipping through them. She noticed where Mina had marked the fabric purchases. 

“She found something. She was trying to show you what she found. She’s marked these pages. All of these vendors she marked are in Columbia. For fabric. A lot of fabric. What would someone do with this much fabric? Do you think its drugs?” She asked, turning to Magnus. She pulled out the computer and opened it up. “She’s got it locked by a password. Damn.”

“Try Charlie. That’s her cats name.” Magnus said as he pulled the car to the side of the road and got out. They were in front of a small storage facility. Anna was able to unlock the computer and briefly looked at the invoices that Mina had pulled up before she left the apartment. 

“Even though it has different vendor names, the banking information is all the same. It all comes back to some business called RGC. They are based out here, even though the product comes from Columbia. Unless we find a building full of fabric, I think we may have found the link.” She said, turning to Magnus. He had his gun drawn and was already walking toward the building. 

Anna ran up to him and grabbed his overcoat. He turned on her, his face angry.

“What, Anna?” He snapped, pulling his coat out of her grasp. “Are you going to tell me to calm down, not do anything rash? I don’t have time for this. Mina is in serious danger, if she’s even still alive. If you want to help me, then get your gun out and help me find her!” He snarled at her and stalked off towards the building. She followed him. 

He tried the door and it was locked. He motioned for her to stay and he was going to go around back. She moved over to the side of the door, watching the road. After a minute, the front door opened. 

“Nothing, its empty. Come on. What’s the next address?” He asked, already half way to the car. He had it started and in drive before Anna even got her seatbelt on. 

“Magnus…” She said. He looked at her briefly, knowing what she was going to say and that she was right. “I know you’re worried. So am I. But you’re not going to be any help to Mina if you get yourself shot. I know that you are emotionally invested. Maybe it would be best if you, you know, sat this one out? If things go bad, it may be best if you weren’t the one to find her…” 

Magnus pulled the car over and leaned towards Anna. 

“Do. Not. Even. Go. There.” He growled. "I will find her, if only so that I can kill her myself.“ 

The next building was the same. Vacant. As they arrived at the third building, Magnus was getting more and more nervous. Would they find her in time?

Magnus opened the door and drew back as a gunshot rang out. He pushed Anna back against the front of the building and returned fire. As he poked his head around the doorway, he saw a man on the ground, holding his arm. His gun was on the ground, out of his reach. He caustiously made his way over to the man. He kicked his gun away. 

“Are you alone here?” He demanded. The man shook his head.

“The girls. Four of them. In the next room.” He groaned. He was rolling back and forth from the pain in his arm. 

“Are they armed?” Magnus asked.

“No, they aren’t. They just fill the bags.” He said. “Can you get me to the hospital? My arm, you shot my arm!” He cried, looking at the blood on his hand. 

“Anna, deal with him. ” Magnus said, moving to the door at the end of the room. He kicked open the door to screams from the women in the room. They were all huddled together in the corner of a small work room. Magnus pointed his gun at them and looked around. 

Cocaine. Lots of cocaine. All over the long table in the middle of the room. It looked like a sort of proessing area, were the drugs were cut and bagged for distributon. 

“Police. Is there anyone else here?” He asked the women. They shook their heads no. “Alright, come on. Lets go, the lot of you.” He said, motioning with his gun for them to leave the room. Anna had called for back up, which arrived shortly. 

While waiting for an ambulance and back up, they questioned the man and the women. No one knew anything. Ian came and paid them and picked up the product when it was ready. They didn’t know Richard or Jared.

Leaving the scene for the other officers to process, Magnus and Anna got back in the car. 

“None of them knew anything about this Richard, or they aren’t telling anyways. Whats the address of the property in the country?” He asked, moving the car back to the road. 

Speeding down the country road, Magnus had a bad feeling in his gut. They had wasted so much time at the last building. 

He pulled up along side a barn and parked the car. They got out and walked around towards the house. At the sight of the black luxury sedan in the drive, they both looked at each other, then started forward. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Language/blood/guns/violence

The door to the study opened. 

“Oh my God. David? What are you doing here? What’s going on?” I croaked, my throat feeling like it was starting to close. 

David, my former employer. The one that I given my ledgers to the police as evidence against was standing in front of me. Smiling. I gasped, turning to Jared. 

“William? Oh my God. I feel sick. What is going on?” I pleaded. 

“Mina. It’s been too long! What has it been, six years, now? It’s Richard, not David anymore. And Jared. Not William. How old were you when we last saw Mina, Jared?” David, now Richard, asked, turning to his son. 

“Oh, I think about 14? Somewhere around there, anyways. I told you it was going to be a big surprise!” Jared crowed, slapping his knee as he laughed. 

“But, how…? I don’t understand.” I said, feeling as if the ground had dropped out from under me. 

“Come on Mina! You’re a very smart girl! Think about it!” He yelled, the smile vanishing from his face. “No? Can’t imagine why we had to run in the middle of the night and change our names? Start over fresh somewhere new? No idea how that could have come about?”

I couldn’t answer him, I just stared at him as he paced back and forth in front of me, his rage quite evident. 

“Imagine my surprise when Sven came to me with the name that was on the key card of the employee that came across our little business meeting. How is it, Mina, that you have twice managed to destroy everything that I have worked so hard for? Was I not a good employer to you? Did I not give you enough vacation time?” He asked, his voice now taking on a deadly calm. 

“David, I didn’t-” I stammered when he reached out and backhanded me across the cheek, sending me reeling back into the chair. 

“It’s Richard.” He spat. “Now. We are going to take a ride. Get her in the damn car.” He walked over to the desk and pulled a small hand gun out of the bottom drawer. 

Ian came over and grabbed my arm roughly and pulled me up. He pushed me in front of him, his own gun poking into my back. I couldn't believe what was happening. Out everything that I had seen in the past week, this was the most unbelievable. 

As we were walking across the foyer, Richard ahead of us, Jared came running out into the hallway. 

“The cop. He’s outside, sneaking around the back. I bet he’s not alone, either!” He cried. 

“How the fuck did they know where to find us?” Richard roared at Ian. “Where did you say you found her?”

“Right out in front of the police station! Stupid bitch was running down the street. Practically ran right into me!” Jared said, his pride in what he thought was a job well done evident on his face. 

“The police station.” He turned towards his son, his voice rising with each word. “You. Abducted. Someone. In. Front. Of. The. POLICE STATION?”

“Sir, I had no idea he had her until he pushed her in the car. I would never have-” Ian’s words were cut short by Richard turning and shooting him. I screamed and fell on my knees in panic. 

“Oh for Christ’s sake. Get her up. Can’t you do anything right? I swear, you’re mother was sleeping around. There is no way you are really my son.” He said in disdain. Jared grabbed me under the arms and pulled me back into the study. He shut the door behind us and pushed a table in front of it. 

Richard stalked over to one of the bookcases and began feeling around the edge of it. He pulled on something and the bookcase jumped out from the wall a little. He pulled on it and it swung forward, revealing a set of dark stairs. 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me. No. This can’t get any more insane.” I said, looking from one to the other. Richard growled and grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me with him down the stairs. Jared followed, pulling the bookcase shut behind us.

Richard flipped a switch and naked light bulbs hanging from the low ceiling sparked to life. The stairs were narrow and steep, and led down and around a corner. Richard pushed me in front of him. I grabbed the wall to keep from falling and descended the stairs. 

Once at the bottom of the stairs, there was a long narrow hallway that led to another set of stairs that went back up. Richard pushed me up them. At the top, there was what looked like a trap door. He moved to the side and let Jared open the door. He cautiously pushed it up, peering around. It was dark above us. 

Satisfied that it was safe to exit, he pushed the door open all the way and gently laid it on the ground. He hopped up and reached in and grabbed me, pulling me up. Richard followed right after. We were in the barn. 

Richard pushed me over to a beat up old car. He left me standing with Jared and went to the driver side and opened the door and popped the trunk open. Jared pointed at the trunk. 

“Go fuck yourself. I’m not getting in there. You can shoot me now.” I hissed at him. He smiled at me and punched me in the stomach causing me to double over. Then he threw me in the trunk, slamming down the latch. I began screaming. 

I heard the doors bang shut and the engine roar to life and we shot forward. I was thrown against the hatch as the momentum propelled me backwards. I heard a loud crash and felt the car swerve to the side a little as we must have driven through the barn door. 

I could feel when we hit the pavement and was thrown to the side as we fishtailed into the direction whoever was driving wanted to go. I could hear Richard yelling, so I assumed it was Jared behind the wheel. 

I began feeling around, trying to find something to try to defend myself with when the opened the trunk, but it seemed that the trunk was empty, except for me. Jared slammed on the brakes, hurling me into the back of the rear seats. I thought I heard a gunshot. Then another. Then several more. Were they shooting at us?! Didn’t they realize I was in the trunk?

“Dad? Dad! Fuck. Dad?” I heard Jared screaming from the front to the car. They must have shot Richard. 

I saw the brake light glowing red and reacted almost immediately. I turned and started kicking the light. After a few hard kicked, it broke free, hanging by its wires. I stuck my hand out of the hole and waved it around. The gun shots ceased. 

I pulled my arm back in the hole and stuck my face there so I could see out. Magnus’s car was right on our tail, Detective Hoglund was driving. Magnus. Oh my God. Magnus. 

He was hanging out of the passenger window, his gun drawn. He looked absolutely livid. I almost wanted to stay in the trunk and test my luck with Jared. Almost. I turned back around and began kicking at the lock on the trunk. 

We hit a particularly nasty bump, sending me airborne for a moment until I crashed down, landing on my broken wrist. I screamed in pain, literally feeling the bone separate and break though the skin on my arm. I kicked one last time at the lock and light flooded into the trunk as the latch sprang open. 

My arm all but forgotten, I sat up and looked out at Magnus. We were going really fast down a winding country road, fields on either side of us. I motioned to him, asking if I should try to jump. He shook his head no and held his hand up, signaling me to stay put for a minute. 

He leaned back in the car and said something to Anna. She nodded and sped up, coming along the drivers side of the car. Once Magnus was level with the trunk, he reached out his arms to me.

“Mina, you’re going to have to jump!” He yelled. 

He didn’t need to tell me twice. I leapt into his arms, and he pulled me into the car. He leaned over me and out the window, his gun pointed at the speeding car. He fired twice, hitting the front wheel. Anna slammed on the brakes, just as the other car spun out of control and flipped. It skidded down the road, coming to rest in a ditch on the side. 

Magnus and Anna jumped out of the car and ran over to the wreckage. Magnus leaned down and looked in the car. He leaned into the car, presumably to check to see if Jared was still alive. He stood back up and shook his head at Anna. She pulled out her phone and made a call.

Magnus turned and looked at me sitting in the car. He stalked over to me, the look on his face making me shrink back into the seat. I was holding my arm to my chest, and I could feel the blood soaking through my cast. 

He hurried over to me, his anger forgotten when he saw the condition I was in. 

“Mina, oh my God, did you get shot? Where are you hurt?” He asked urgently, his large hands ghosting over my body, trying to find where the blood was coming from.

“No. I think my wrist broke some more, if that’s possible. The bone-” I didn’t finish. Because I passed out. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I woke, I was in the back of an ambulance, Magnus sitting beside me. He had his strong hand wrapped around my good one. The medics had cut off the cast on my other arm, and it was wrapped in blood soaked gauze and tied to a brace. 

“Magnus, I’m so sorry!” I cried, the tears immediately coming. “I don’t know what I was thinking, I just wanted to tell you about what I had found and I had no way to get ahold of you and I could see the police station from your living room. I tried to get away from him. And then, oh my God! Richard is David! He’s my old boss, the one that I turned over the ledgers to the police when I lived up north. And he shot Ian, and there was a fucking secret passage! I’m so sorry. I was so scared. I thought I was never going to see you again, and you would be so angry with me and I can’t-”

“Shhh. Mina. Its ok. Take a breath. You’re safe. I’m here. I am so unbelievably pissed off at you, but it can wait. I’m just so relieved that you’re alive. You can tell me everything later. Just try to calm down.” He soothed, leaning over and smoothing my hair back. He leaned down and laid a kiss on my temple and wiped my tears from my cheeks. I sighed. 

We arrived at the emergency room and I was bustled into a private room. A few minutes after we got settled, Bonnie came bustling in. 

“Miss Mina! Back again so soon, my dear? You’ve had a busy day from what I understand!” She trilled. I heard Magnus choke on a laugh. “I’m happy to see you, but I would rather not see you if you know what I mean!” She tittered at her own joke. 

“I figured you would be more comfortable in a private room. I’ll be back in a few to take you to x-ray.” She said, winking at me as she practically skipped out of the room. 

I looked over at Magnus and he was practically crying from not laughing. We both burst out into laughter. “I guess its all in who you know!” I guffawed. 

 

Several hours, an air cast and an appointment for surgery on my wrist the following morning later, Magnus was walking me out to his car. While we had been waiting for the doctor, I told him the story of what had happened when I lived up north and what happened after the took me. 

He helped me into the car, and buckled me in like before. He walked around and got into the drivers seat. He started the car, but didn’t go anywhere. He looked, well, pissed. 

“Magnus?” I asked him, scared that he was going to say. He hadn’t yelled at me or said a word about the stupid decision I made that had put not just myself, but him and Anna in danger. 

“Mina.” He sighed, turning to look at me, then looking away again. “I was so… scared. I thought that they were going to kill you and I would never see you again. I was so mad at you earlier. I wanted to shake you until your teeth rattled out of that thick skull of your. I wanted to rant and rave and scream at you until I was hoarse.” He turned his blue eyes on me. I was riveted to the spot. 

“But, I find that now that I can, I don’t want to do those things. I’m just so relieved that you are ok. That you are here with me. I just want to hold you and be with you and never let you go.” He reached out and touched my cheek so tenderly, I felt a tear slip down my other cheek. 

“Oh, Magnus… I just want to be with you, too.” I said softly. He leaned over and kissed me. 

“Do you want to go home? I’ve had your door replaced.” He asked. “I can stay, or if you want to be alone, I can come back in the morning to bring you to your surgery….” He trailed off. 

“Seriously? After that speech, you’re just going to drop me off at home? I thought you were smart!” I chuckled at the sheepish grin that spread across his face. 

“My place, then?” He asked, his grin turning to a wicked smirk, as he put the car in drive.


End file.
